Detention As Treatment

DETENTION AS TREATMENT
Detention of Methamphetamine Users

in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand
DETENTION AS TREATMENT
Detention of Methamphetamine
Users in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand
March 2010
International Harm Reduction Development Program

Copyright © 2010 Open Society Institute. All rights reserved.
Writing: Nick Thomson

Editing: Roxanne Saucier and Daniel Wolfe
Copy Editing: Paul Silva and Thomas Bane
Layout: Judit Kovács l Createch Ltd.
For more information, contact:

OSI Public Health Program
www.soros.org/health
Telephone 1 212 548 0600
Email ihrd@sorosny.org
Acknowledgments
This report would not have been possible with out the assistance and support of many people working in the
Southeast Asian region and indeed outside of the region. I would like thank the people who have shared their
experiences of compulsory detention. I would like to thank my colleagues from the field who were instrumental
in collecting and analyzing interviews, including Sara Bradford in Cambodia, Khun Non in Thailand and Mr. Gai
in Laos. Many individuals working within particular government departments in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
provided information and shared their thoughts on this issue and I am grateful for their assistance. I was given
much informal support from various people within UN agencies in the region, particularly WHO in Cambodia.
This work would not have been possible without the help of Patrick Duigan and the journalistic and investigative
talents of Tom Fawthrop. Professor Chris Beyer from the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health provided significant technical advice and also reviewed several drafts as did
Katie Sutcliffe from the Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Brock Daniels provided significant assistance in putting
together the medical literature on methamphetamine. Mr. Jemma from Chiang Mai Graphic company and
Thirawat from Sabai Designs provided excellent assistance throughout.
I would like to sincerely thank Daniel Wolfe and Roxanne Saucier from OSI for their ongoing patience and guidance
in the completion of this work and their tireless efforts in bringing the issue of compulsory detention of drug
users to the attention of national and international agencies in an effort to find solutions that are fundamentally
grounded in human rights and evidence-based public health principles.
We apologize for the low quality of many of the photographs in this report. Few people have been able to take
pictures inside these compulsory drug treatment/detention centers, and those that are taken are often captured
surreptitiously, on cellphone cameras, or from a distance. Those managing the centers are reluctant for conditions
inside to be captured on camera.
Contents
Preface 5
Executive Summary 7
Patients Not Criminals: Rhetoric versus Reality 8
Infectious Disease 9
Arbitrary Arrest and Detention 9
Evidence-based and Voluntary Drug Treatment 9
Key Recommendations 11
Introduction 13
Methodology 15
Background 17
The Continued Increase of Methamphetamine Use in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos 17
Risk Profiles of Methamphetamine Users 19
Assessment, Management, and Treatment of Methamphetamine Dependence 20
The Rise of a Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention Center Model 20
International Concern about Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention Centers 21
Health Implications of Compulsory Detention 22
Thailand 23
Drug Policy, Availability, and Use 23
Methamphetamine: Implications for Individual and Public Health 24
Referral to Treatment 24
Conditions Inside the Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention Centers 26
Release and Recidivism 27
Proliferation of the Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention Centers 28
3
Cambodia 31
Laos 41
Detention of Juveniles 45
Annexes 55
Annex 1: An Overview of Methamphetamine Abuse and Treatment
in the International Literature 55
Annex 2: A Peer-based Network Trial with Methamphetamine Users in Chiang Mai,
Northern Thailand 59
Annex 3: UN Country Team Position on Drug Dependence Treatment and Support
to the Royal Government of Cambodia 63
Notes 67
4 CONTENTS
Preface
The widespread availability and use of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia has been a very real
concern for families, communities, and affected States. Methamphetamine and related substances
can lead to a range of harms for individual users, their loved ones, and their communities. So
it should not be surprising that governments in the region have attempted to respond to rising
methamphetamine use, or that they have sought, and received, donor support to do so.
How have the governments of Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia responded?
As this report details, the prevailing responses have been compulsory detention—generally
without medical management of detoxification. Detention in conditions that are themselves threats
to health and life, has been done under the banner of “treatment” for drug use, but little or no
evidence-based treatment has been available.
The voices of drug users heard here are among the first to have emerged from these
Southeast Asian “compulsory drug treatment/detention centers (CDTDCs).” They will remind
many readers of the accounts of mental patients from 18th or 19th century Europe—with shackles,
chains, and beatings masquerading as treatment, gross overcrowding, the ever-present stench of
human waste, and the always dangerous mix of locking away children and youth with adults. That
men and women, adolescents and adults, are being detained across this region in dangerous and
destructive environments without due process, often without trial, and based on arbitrary decisions
by untrained officials, makes this all the more a cause for regional and international concern.
This report makes clear that drug treatment is not occurring in these compulsory centers,
and that what is happening to thousands of (mostly young) people is a threat to public health and
safety, and represents ongoing violations of a range of basic human rights. Anxiety over drug abuse
leads many governments to respond with harsh and draconian measures, often to little avail. But
here we see governments, and well-meaning individuals within them, attempting to address a
problem with solutions that are profound failures on any measure we have. This must stop.
How can the governments of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos respond to methamphetamine
use in ways that might actually help affected citizens and their families and deal with the social
and security concerns over methamphetamine use? The authors suggest several steps that should
be undertaken immediately. First, halt the construction of more CDTDCs. To date, there is only
5
evidence of their harm. Second, invest in community-based strategies that can better address the
harms of methamphetamine use. And finally, transition to community-based models of drug treat-
ment and initiate the closing down of all CDTDCs.
The donor community, including the United Nations, has critical roles to play as well. Given
the evidence of the harms of these compulsory detention facilities, and the lack of evidence for their
efficacy, donors should cease and desist from financial support for these institutions. Continuing
to support these centers now that we know about the kinds of abuses they are leading to, including
the incarceration and sexual exploitation of minors, could be tantamount to complicity in rights
violations, or at least to the perceived tolerance of those violations.
Donors could play truly positive roles by promoting, piloting, and helping to evaluate alter-
native approaches to compulsory detention. Normative guidelines on drug treatment based on
evidence and grounded in human rights would be enormously helpful as well. Arbitrary and
compulsory detention is not drug treatment. And the ways in which it is now being conducted in
Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos is inhumane, ineffective, and must change.
This report sheds critical and much-needed light on hidden and neglected people who need
our urgent attention. Please read it, and please act on its findings and recommendations.
Sincerely,
Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH

Director, Center for Public Health and Human Rights
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
6 PREFACE
Executive Summary
This report examines the establishment and operation of centers to detain and “treat” metham-
phetamine users in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. It documents the increasing number of such
1
compulsory drug treatment/detention centers (CDTDCs) , examines the policies and practices
that force people into them, and explores the implications for individual health, public health, and
human rights. This approach to treating methamphetamine use is implemented without evidence
of effectiveness, and it places people in environments where their basic health needs are unmet
and abuse is pervasive.
The core issue identified in this report is the use of law enforcement approaches to address
health issues. Though drug policies in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos have been amended in recent
years to recognize that drug dependence is a health issue, the public security sectors in these three
countries tend to trump the smaller and weaker health sectors. Illicit drug use remains a violation
of criminal law in these countries, and people who use drugs are treated as criminals. CDTDCs
are generally run by police or military personnel. Drug users are often detained using administra-
tive rules rather than criminal laws, and in many cases, do not see a judge or have the ability to
question or appeal internment.
International actors, particularly agencies of the United Nations and donor states, face a
policy conflict when confronted with CDTDCs. At the same time that they advocate for evidence-
based treatment, they issue grants to agencies working with these centers or to the centers them-
selves. The steady growth in the construction of the CDTDCs, and the lack of HIV prevention or
treatment, evidence-based and effective drug treatment, or any other medical treatment, reveal
the limits of the approach.
While opiate users comprise the majority of those detained in CDTDCs in countries like
China and Vietnam, in many countries in Southeast Asia it is methamphetamine users who are
the overwhelming majority of detainees. The production, trafficking, and use of methamphet-
amine in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos pose significant challenges to both the law enforcement
and health service sectors. As with other problems related to illicit drugs, finding an appropriate
balance between the security needs of the community and the health needs and rights of meth-
amphetamine users should be the ultimate goal. The current approach, however, is harmful to the
health and rights of individuals, and to the health of the larger community.
7
Patients Not Criminals: Rhetoric versus Reality
In each of the three countries considered in this report, it is specified, either by law or Prime
Ministerial Decree, that methamphetamine users are to be considered patients, not criminals.
Considering the multiple and ongoing violations of human rights of methamphetamine users in
Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, it is hard to argue that detained individuals are in fact treated like
patients. Placing methamphetamine users in compulsory detention is possibly the worst interven-
tion imaginable, given their health-related risk profiles and needs. Instead they require a range of
services that focus on sexual risk behaviors and drug use in their community and social networks.
These centers lack health professionals and staff are not trained in drug dependence treat-
ment; individuals detained in these centers are not provided with pre-admission or pre-release
health screenings (including mental health), or post-release support. Additionally, methods of
detention are not conducive for effective treatment: these include use of chains and locking groups
2
of people in rooms that resemble large holding cells. The settings are far more basic in Laos and
Cambodia, where youth and adults are confined in much smaller cells, generally with no mat-
3
tresses on the concrete floors. In Cambodia, the government is quite open in acknowledging the
obvious pitfalls of these CDTDCs and suggests that:
“…due to the lack of a structural mechanism between the Ministry of Interior
and the Ministry of Health there is no mechanism that would provide and make
4
available essential medicines at this stage.”
People who use drugs in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos are breaking national laws and are
therefore, in many cases, treated like criminals. This does not mean, however, that the state has a
right to deprive these people of appropriate medical treatment. In fact the due process and health
rights of people in detention are guaranteed under international law, particularly the International
5
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and in Article 12 of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights—“the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the high-
est attainable standard of physical and mental health”—both of which all three countries have
6
ratified. In regard to detained persons, the United Nations Basic Principles for the Treatment
of Prisoners further adds that: “Prisoners shall have access to the health services available in the
7
country without discrimination on the grounds of their legal situation.”
Infectious Disease
8
Not only do detainees receive inadequate treatment in the CDTDCs ; they are also placed in situ-
ations where their health is put at greater jeopardy. Several studies have shown that people placed
into detention settings are at significantly greater risk of contracting infectious diseases, including
HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and skin infections. These health threats can follow detainees back
to their home community upon release.
8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Risky sexual behavior, both predatory and consensual, occurs in the CDTDCs in Laos and
Cambodia. In Thailand, methamphetamine users are detained in prisons prior to internment in
CDTDCs. The detention of young people in CDTDCs, and in many cases the detention of juve-
niles with adults, poses significant risks for HIV acquisition particularly since detention increases
sexual exploitation. Furthermore, other HIV risk behavior such as tattooing and body piercing are
prevalent in these settings.
Arbitrary Arrest and Detention

When any person is removed from society and placed in a custodial setting, there should be proper
legal safeguards and procedures to guarantee the rights of the detainee. This right is guaranteed by
Article 9.4 of the ICCPR that states that any person “deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention
shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that that court may decide without
9
delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful.” The
UN Human Rights Committee has interpreted this provision to apply to “all deprivations of liberty,
10
whether in criminal cases or in other cases such as, for example, ... drug addiction...”
One means for detention, in Laos and Cambodia, appears to be a signed contract between
parents or guardians of the detainee and the CDTDC in which they are detained. In most cases,
young people and adults alike are rounded up by police and incarcerated at a CDTDC without any
legal review of the evidence of drug use, abuse, addiction, or perceived harm of the individual to
the community.
In Thailand, regulations allow for those suspected of being in possession of or using meth-
11
amphetamine to be detained in prisons for up to 45 days pending the case review by a committee
that is both under-funded and overworked. Furthermore, many young methamphetamine users
spend a significantly longer period of time in prison before being sent to a CDTDC, if they are in
fact ever transferred at all.
Evidence-based and Voluntary Drug Treatment

People who use drugs should have access to voluntary treatment programs that are based on
evidence of effectiveness. In many cases, methamphetamine users in CDTDCs are detained
against their will for an open-ended period of time. Considering that regionally relevant research
found that an acute phase of methamphetamine withdrawal usually only lasts a couple of days
12
and a sub-acute phase between seven and 15 days, detaining people for anywhere between several
months and three or four years has no basis in evidence. There have been no formal evaluations
as to the effectiveness of the CDTDCs in reducing return to methamphetamine use upon release.
All the anecdotal evidence suggests that upon release from the CDTDCs, the relapse rates are
extremely high. This means that people do not get better in these CDTDCs and in many cases,
actually get worse.
D E T E N T I O N A S T R E AT M E N T 9
Without an investment in community-based and individualized interventions, large num-
bers of methamphetamine users in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos are likely to continue to move
between prisons, CDTDCs, and their communities, thereby increasing their own and their sexual
partners’ risk for acquisition of blood-borne pathogens, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and
other communicable diseases. Furthermore, they are likely to have their human rights violated and
spend a significant part of their youth behind bars.
10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Key Recommendations
To the Governments of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos
• Immediately halt construction of new CDTDCs.
• Investigate ill treatment in CDTDCs, hold violators accountable, and cease all state
activities and practices that perpetuate the criminalization of people who use drugs.
• Invest in community-based strategies that address the harms associated with the use
of methamphetamine (such as programs to deter risky injection practices and STI
prevention, screening, and treatment).
• Devise national strategies to close down all CDTDCs and transition to community-
based models of treatment.
• Release all those currently detained in CDTDCs, as their detention is unjustifiable,

even in the absence of viable treatment options in the community.
To the United Nations and Donor Community

• Immediately cease any financial support to the building of new CDTDCs or mainte-
nance of existing CDTDCs in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Review programs and
polices inside the centers to ensure they’re not furthering human rights abuses.
• Promote, pilot, and evaluate community-based alternatives to CDTDCs for the treat-
ment of methamphetamine and the integration of associated health and social ser-
vices.
• Develop regional guidelines on appropriate treatment for those that require treatment,
and harm reduction approaches to methamphetamine that are both evidence-based
and grounded in human rights.
11
Introduction
A meeting at the 18th International Harm Reduction Association conference in Warsaw in 2007
sparked the genesis of this report. At that meeting, various people from United Nations agencies
and international human rights groups discussed the issue of drug treatment and the need for
the promotion of evidence-based, voluntary drug treatment grounded in fundamental human
rights principles. Participants felt that the UN needed to take a greater lead to ensure that rights
violations in the name of drug treatment would cease. During that meeting, participants raised
the issue of young methamphetamine users in CDTDCs in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. They
expressed concerns that CDTDCs operated contrary to fundamental human rights principles and
were being built at an exponential rate—in some cases, with support from UN agencies or donor
nations. UN officials replied that they felt there was insufficient evidence to justify such claims
and that more careful documentation was needed in order for anything to be done about the situ-
ation. With this report, and others recently published, human rights violations in CDTDCs can
no longer be denied.
13
Methodology
Between June 2008 and October 2009, 30 interviews were conducted at various levels with gov-
ernment ministries, UN agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from Thailand,
Cambodia, and Laos. Participants were selected because they either worked in ministries or depart-
ments that oversaw the compulsory drug treatment system, worked with methamphetamine users,
or worked as staff at CDTDCs. Interviews focused on the source of funding for the CDTDCs, the
costs of management of the CDTDCs, the centers’ effectiveness in preventing recidivism to drug
use, the prevalence of HIV risk behaviors in the CDTDCs, and the implications of the CDTDCs
for public health and human rights. In addition, participants were asked for their ideas and sug-
gestions for how to improve treatment for methamphetamine users. Some participants offered
their insights through off-the-record conversations or through email exchanges.
During the same time period, interviews were conducted with 30 recently released detainees
from CDTDCs in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Interviewers had initial access to participants
either through their work with research institutes and NGOs, or through their social networks.
Once the initial participants were recruited, respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit fur-
ther participants. A semi-structured interview guide was designed to elicit key information from
participants relating to aspects of their time in CDTDCs including the circumstances of admission,
the cost of being in the CDTDCs, the medical treatment provided, treatment by the center staff,
the living conditions, and availability of HIV prevention. None of the people approached for this
set of interviews declined to participate.
Interviews were conducted by local, trained interviewers who were familiar with the sub-
ject matter. Interviews were recorded on tape where possible, transcribed, and then translated.
When it was not possible to tape interviews, extensive notes were taken that were transcribed and
translated immediately following the interview. Translated interviews were discussed and checked
for accuracy by two people fluent in both languages, prior to analysis. Up to ten interviews were
conducted with individuals who had spent some period of time in a CDTDC in each country until
saturation of information was reached.
Due to the sensitive nature of the information, identifying information for many of the
interviewees, both officials and recently released detainees, has been omitted.
15
In addition to interviews, information came from an extensive literature review of published
and unpublished papers and reports, and through the use of relevant internet sources. Where
possible, information has been verified by at least one other source.
16 METHODOLOGY
Background
The Continued Increase of Methamphetamine Use in
Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos
Experts have linked the rise of methamphetamine production, trafficking, and use in Thailand
13
and Southeast Asia to the Asian economic crisis of 1996, the collapse of the infamous Khun Sa
14
heroin operations in Burma, ongoing internal conflicts in Burma, transnational crime syndicates,
and the shifting trends of global illicit drug use. In reality, the rise of methamphetamine use in
Southeast Asia is most likely the result of all of these and a host of other social and environmental
factors.
Whatever the cause, there has indeed been an exponential increase in the recreational use
of methamphetamine in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos since 1996. In fact, methamphetamine
15
has surpassed heroin as the major drug used in many parts of the Southeast Asian region.
In Thailand, the first country where increases in methamphetamine use were carefully docu-
16
mented, there has also been a documented rise in adverse health and social consequences related
to methamphetamine use. This has been seen in Cambodia and Laos as well. These consequences
17
include high rates of common STIs among methamphetamine users, high rates of self-reported
18 19
depression and alcohol consumption, psychosis, and deleterious interactions with law enforce-
ment officials that often result in some period of incarceration in either prison, a CDTDC, or
20, 21
both.
Between 1955 and 1980, methamphetamine tablets, known in Thailand as “yaba” and in
22 23
other parts of the region as “yama,” were initially legally available and ingested by laborers in
24
Southeast Asia to provide additional energy for physical work. Large-scale production of yaba
tablets continues in the region, predominantly in Burma, but also throughout Thailand, with
25 26
recent reports of production in Cambodia, and anecdotal reports of production in Laos. With
an increased supply and deliberate marketing campaign, methamphetamine tablets became the
most common recreationally used illicit drug in Thailand by 1997 and are currently the most
27
used illicit drug in Laos and Cambodia among young people. Methamphetamine tablets vary
17
in chemical composition, but in general contain approximately 25 percent active methamphet-
28
amine. In addition, the amphetamine-type stimulant known as “ice” (a crystalline form of meth-
29
amphetamine) is becoming increasingly produced, trafficked, and used in Southeast Asia.
Methamphetamine and ice are typically inhaled. The tablets or crystals are often put on foil
and melted from beneath. The resulting vapor is either inhaled through water or directly through
30
a straw. The documented effects include feelings of euphoria, alertness, and confidence, but
these are often followed by feelings of anxiety, depression, and insomnia; in some, prolonged use
31, 32
leads to acute psychosis (see Annex 1 for more information about methamphetamine use). In
33
2003, Thailand’s Academic Substance Abuse Network estimated that 3,500,000 citizens had ever
34
used methamphetamine. Though estimates vary widely, some researchers suggest that, among
the estimated 520,000 drug users in Cambodia, methamphetamine tablets are the predominant
35
drug of abuse. In Laos, there are no reliable estimates of the total number of illicit drug users,
but the Laos government has said that the use of methamphetamine is the most pressing illicit
36
drug concern in the country. In 2008, a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
37
study estimated that there were between 35,000 and 40,000 methamphetamine addicts in Laos
but did not specify how the term “addict” was applied.
Figure 1. Traditional, emerging, and expanding methamphetamine trafficking routes

across Southeast Asia and into South Asia (2002)
Source: UNODC East Asia and the Pacific
18 BACKGROUND
38
The Thai government began criminalizing methamphetamine in 1996. In 2003, the gov-
ernment launched a well-documented “war on drugs” that included mass arrests of those suspected
of manufacturing or selling methamphetamine, as well as what human rights observers termed
39
extrajudicial executions of more than 2,500 individuals, often following police interrogation. In
combination, these events led to a doubling of the number of people incarcerated in Thailand’s
40
prison system between 1996 and 2004. In 2006, 75 percent of the 68,000 drug-related charges
41
in Thailand were related to methamphetamine; this number rose to 84,073 methamphetamine-
42
related arrests in 2007. Thailand’s Department of Corrections’ website states that offences associ-
43
ated with narcotics currently account for 55 percent of all incarcerations. In Cambodia, more than
90 percent of people charged with drug law violations in 2005 and 2006 were charged in relation
to methamphetamine tablets. In Laos, 100 percent of drug-related arrests in 2006 were attributed
to methamphetamine tablets. In all three countries more than 75 percent of those arrested on
44
drug-related charges are male.
Risk Profiles of Methamphetamine Users

A recently completed five-year study investigating risk profiles and peer-based risk reduction strate-
45
gies with methamphetamine users in northern Thailand showed that methamphetamine users
between the ages of 18 and 25 (n=1,189) had multiple risks for problems of substance use, STIs,
HIV, mental illness, and criminal records. The cohort were frequent users of methamphetamine
tablets; in addition, 50 percent reported alcohol abuse more than five days a week; chlamydia
rates were above 30 percent; 22 percent had ever been arrested and of those, 75 percent had been
arrested at least twice; condom use during the most recent sexual intercourse was only 15 percent;
46
and many females reported unplanned pregnancies and self-induced abortions.
The results of a similar study conducted in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos were presented
47
at the International Harm Reduction Association conference in Bangkok in April 2009. Initial
exploration of data from those countries suggests that the risk profiles of young methamphetamine
users are fairly similar in all three countries, including high rates of STIs (three to six times higher
in women than men); and high arrest rates for methamphetamine users who were not already in
a CDTDC (20 percent in Laos, 40 percent in Cambodia, and 34 percent in Chiang Rai, Thailand).
The primary reason for arrest was for using methamphetamine or fighting, with less than five
percent arrested for selling or delivering drugs.
Methamphetamine users in this study reported similar alcohol and sexual risk profiles as in
the Chiang Mai study. While the non-injecting use of methamphetamine does not carry the same
risk of HIV acquisition as injecting drug use, it appears that non-injecting methamphetamine
users have more risk of HIV through sexual behavior compared to other sentinel groups studied
48
in the region (see Annex 2 for more information on a peer-based intervention study conducted
with methamphetamine users in northern Thailand).
Assessment, Management, and Treatment of
Methamphetamine Dependence
The physical manifestations of methamphetamine use include a loss of appetite, insomnia, rapid
49
heartbeat, jaw tension, grinding of teeth, palpitations, irritability, desire to urinate, and tremors.
Adverse psychological consequences of methamphetamine use are usually short-lived, typically
lasting a few hours to a few days and can include mental confusion, paranoid ideation, and audi-
tory hallucinations. In some cases, toxicity can mimic a functional psychosis such as paranoid
50
schizophrenia. Severity of adverse psychological events is dependent upon the amount used, the
51
pattern of use, other substances used, and the presence of any pre-existing psychiatric illnesses.
Withdrawal from methamphetamine use can induce symptoms of depression, need for
seclusion, hyperphagia (abnormally increased appetite and consumption of food), and hypersom-
nia. Withdrawal syndromes are rarely life-threatening yet may require hospitalization, particularly
52
in cases of severe depression. Pharmacotherapies such as benzodiazepines and antipsychotics
53
are sometimes used to aid withdrawal or reduce the symptoms of psychosis. Despite ongoing
54
research, substitution therapies for methamphetamine dependence remains unavailable.
The Rise of a Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention

Center Model
The rise in methamphetamine-related arrests in the Southeast Asian region has been paralleled by
increased testing for amphetamine use, including compulsory testing, and an associated demand
to treat those who test positive. In Thailand, a lack of infrastructure to treat methamphetamine
users and limited treatment options have resulted in increasing numbers of young methamphet-
55
amine users being sent to prisons and CDTDCs. In 2004, there were 35 CDTDCs in Thailand;
56
currently there are 84. A similar approach is gaining momentum in Cambodia (from zero to 14
57 58
CDTDCs in eight years ) and in Laos (from zero to eight CDTDCs in ten years ). While some
heroin and other drug users are also detained in these CDTDCs, they remain predominantly filled
59
with methamphetamine users.
The CDTDCs in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos are predominantly managed by either the
military or law enforcement sectors, and the drug treatment regimes implemented in these cen-
ters are based upon a military “boot camp” type model. Detainees are subjected to early morning
wake-ups and physical exercises, and are often indoctrinated with anti-drug rhetoric. The system
in Thailand is more regulated than that in Cambodia and Laos, with CDTDCs often located within
military barracks. In many cases, detainees report inadequate food and shelter. Some CDTDCs
in Thailand are managed by the Ministry of Interior, rather than the armed forces, and there are
greater concerns as to the conditions in these centers. In Cambodia and Laos, CDTDCs are also
run by military or public security personnel. Qualified health sector personnel are rarely involved
in any aspects of drug treatment in the centers.
20 BACKGROUND
Figure 2. Proliferation of CDTDCs
100
80
60
40
20
0
Thailand Cambodia Laos
2004 to 2009 2002 to 2009 2000 to 2009
International Concern about Compulsory Drug

Treatment/Detention Centers
In recent years the international community, including human rights groups, UN agencies, legal
and policy analysts, and drug treatment professionals have called for a review and restructuring of
how the public security and public health systems in Southeast Asia implement drug treatment.60
61
WHO and UNODC, for example, have stated clearly that drug treatment should be evidence-
based, promote prevention of HIV and other communicable disease transmission, and should not
violate the human rights of detainees. Further, these agencies have outlined nine principles for
guiding treatment of drug dependence. These recommendations include screening, assessment,
diagnosis, and treatment planning; evidence-informed treatment; respect for human rights and
62
dignity; and community involvement and patient participation. The CDTDCs in Southeast Asia
violate all of these principles.
Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has also made it clear that CDTDCs
63
violate international standards on torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. His
2009 report to the Human Rights Council details examples of situations where abuses of drug
users in the name of treatment, including detention in CDTDCs, violate the Convention Against
Torture, as well as the protections inherent in the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights against the use of non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation. Professor
Nowak has further suggested that the lack of access to HIV prevention options for drug users in
high-risk settings; ill treatment at the hands of police; lack of judicial review in the forced deten-
tions of drug users; and forced testing of HIV all raise significant human rights concerns.
Other leading figures, including Anand Grover, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Health, and Navanethem Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, have expressed
64
similar concerns about human rights abuses committed in the name of drug treatment.
International NGOs have examined the practices of CDTDCs and documented multiple rights
65
violations committed in the name of drug treatment. While the majority of these reports have
focused on the forced treatment of injecting drug users, this report seeks to highlight that multiple
human rights violations and negative individual and public health outcomes are also prevalent in
the case of compulsory detention of primarily non-injecting methamphetamine users in Thailand,
Cambodia, and Laos.
Health Implications of Compulsory Detention

Even though methamphetamine is predominantly inhaled in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, once
inside either a prison or a CDTDC, exposure to blood-borne viruses and other infectious disease
increases. Incarceration or institutionalization of drug users in custodial settings has been asso-
ciated with a host of negative health outcomes including STIs and blood-borne viruses such as
66 67 68 69 70
syphilis, herpes, HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. While these infections also exist outside
of closed settings, it is clear that the custodial environment exposes individuals to behaviors and
events that increase negative health outcomes. In Southeast Asia, prevalent behaviors or events
71 72 73
include tattooing, injection of drugs, penile modifications, unprotected sex, and rape. Risk in
CDTDCs is increased by the absence of HIV preventive measures. Of the three countries consid-
ered here, none makes condoms, sterile injection equipment, or tattooing paraphernalia available
to detainees.
22 BACKGROUND
Thailand
Drug Policy, Availability, and Use
Thailand formalized a ban on opium in 1959 when Prime Minister Sarit introduced the Harmful
74
Habit Forming Drugs Act, which outlawed the production, sale, and use of opium. Several
decades of alternative development in the highlands, largely supported and subsidized by the
royal family of Thailand, has contributed to Thailand currently being recognized as essentially
75
free of opium production.
Thailand became a signatory to the 1961 United Nations Single Convention that year, and
in 1975 signed onto the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and in 2002 ratified
76
the UN Convention against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotics. In 1976, the country introduced leg-
77
islation known as the Narcotic Control Act and established the Office of the Narcotics Control
Board (ONCB), with the Prime Minister as chair. The ONCB is the lead authority coordinating
all anti-drugs efforts in Thailand. Under the terms of legal amendments and ONCB guidelines
issued in 2002 and 2007, the possession and consumption of narcotics can result in fines and/
or incarceration sentences of up to 10 years. Methamphetamine was criminalized in 1996; those
78
convicted of trafficking in heroin and/or methamphetamine may be sentenced to death.
In addition to national narcotics laws, Thailand is heavily engaged in regional and inter-
national drug enforcement. This includes, since 1993, cooperation in the UNODC regional
Memorandum of Understanding on Drug Control and a commitment to the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous
79
Drugs (ACCORD) project. The US government has long supported antinarcotics efforts in
80
Thailand through the provision of law enforcement trainings and the ONCB also has strong
81
links to the US Drug Enforcement Agency. The website of the ONCB claims that Thailand is con-
sistently and actively involved in bilateral and multilateral law enforcement activities in Southeast
82
Asia and gives full cooperation to foreign countries on matters of drugs control.
23
Methamphetamine: Implications for Individual and
Public Health
Scientific research on issues of illicit drug use and public health in Thailand has traditionally
83
focused on HIV risk behaviors and incidence rates among cohorts of injecting heroin users. As
84
the number of heroin users tapered off in the late 1990s and the numbers of methamphetamine
users increased, research efforts began to explore patterns of methamphetamine use and the
implications of its effect on individual and public health.
The first Thai national household survey was conducted by the Academic Committee on
Substance Abuse in 2001. It estimated that 3,500,000 million Thais between the ages of 15 and 60
reported ever using methamphetamine. A second survey, in 2003, suggested that approximately
1 million people in Thailand had used methamphetamine in the previous year. The survey also
found that of the 450,000 people who reported using methamphetamine within the last 30 days,
85
73 percent were between 12 and 24 years old.
Research has shown differences between methamphetamine users and injecting opiate
users. Between 1999 and 2000, researchers investigated the sociodemographic, sexual, and drug
86
use risk factors among methamphetamine users accessing drug treatment in northern Thailand.
The study investigated data from 750 methamphetamine users and found that they had a higher
number of sexual partners and higher rates of STIs when compared with heroin users. While
HIV infection rates are higher among injecting drug users, another study confirmed that meth-
87
amphetamine users are more likely to have HIV than the general Thai population. Among 1,890
methamphetamine users who predominantly inhaled the drug, HIV prevalence in this population
was 2.4 percent, almost double Thailand’s national HIV prevalence rate.
Referral to Treatment
The Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act, which came into effect in 2002, states the government of
Thailand’s legal response to treat and rehabilitate those addicted to narcotics. A comprehensive
review of the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act has recently been conducted by the Canadian HIV/
88
AIDS Legal Network and provides recommendations for improvements.
The Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act legislates that drug users are to be considered patients
and have their cases reviewed by a Narcotic Rehabilitation Act Committee (NRAC), established
in every province, which reviews each arrest for drug use (in the absence of other crimes) and
makes a decision about what should happen to the alleged drug user. The committee is made up
89
of psychologists, psychiatrists, community health workers, and key community leaders. The
options open to the committee include: refer the person to compulsory four-month detention in a
CDTDC; release the person back to the community to undertake supervised outpatient cognitive
behavioral therapy; release the person back to the community with no further action; or recom-
mend prosecuting the person in the criminal court for a potential prison sentence.
24 THAILAND
To help guide the committee, the Department of Probation, in conjunction with the arresting
police officer, puts together an investigation of the particular case in question. At no stage in the
90
investigation does the NRAC actually meet with the alleged user, thereby limiting their ability to
make an accurate medical assessment of the severity of dependence or the person’s mental health
needs. Committee members acknowledge that this results in many methamphetamine users who
91
are not drug dependent being sent to the CDTDCs. While investigation is ongoing, the individual
is detained in a custodial setting, often a prison. While detention is not supposed to exceed 45
days according to policy, in practice those imprisoned may remain for as long as a year. Medical
assessments are not carried out during the investigation and therefore those people who may be
92
methamphetamine dependent receive no medical assistance to ease symptoms of withdrawal.
The Department of Probation states that any individual who has a case being investigated
93
for an NRAC hearing is to be kept separate from prisoners. Those awaiting a hearing, however,
94
are subject to the same poor prison conditions. Wanchai Roujanavong, then Director-General of
the Department of Probation admitted:
“In many cases prisons are used to detain methamphetamine users as there is no
95
room anywhere else.”
Methamphetamine withdrawal is usually completed with no trial, due process, or medi-

96
cal supervision, and then detainees are frequently committed to involuntary detention for an
additional three to four months. One methamphetamine user who had recently left a military-run
CDTDC outside of Chiang Mai noted:
“I was arrested for two methamphetamine tablets and put in prison; I stayed there
for 11 months and then one day was moved to a boot-camp. After three months in
97
the boot-camp I was released.”
The Department of Probation supports the NRAC by providing 500 baht (US$15) to each
98
committee member per meeting attended. In addition, the Department of Probation provides
CDTDC management with 18,000 baht (US$540) for each person detained in a CDTDC. CDTDCs
can hold between 30 and 400 people depending on their size, but the average CDTDC holds 100
people. The Department of Probation estimated that more than 10,000 people passed through
99
these CDTDCs in 2008 in Thailand. The Royal Thai Airforce, however, stated that the govern-
100
ment expected at least 50,000 people to pass through the system in 2009. The Department of
Probation provides the money to CDTDC management upon receipt of quarterly reports submitted
by CDTDC staff. Conversations with Department of Probation officials suggest that the budget pro-
vided to some CDTDCs, particularly those under the auspices of Ministry of Interior, is frequently
101
unaccounted for, resulting in low morale for unpaid staff and concern about theft.
102
Discussions with various NRACs from across Thailand highlight the multiple issues fac-
ing the committees, including insufficient time to review cases, and lag times of several months
in payment for committee members. A senior psychiatrist from Rajburi Province, who serves on
the NRAC notes:
“We have up to 50 cases a week to hear, but we only meet for two hours once a
week. It means we have only a couple of minutes to review each case and make a
recommendation. It is not enough time but we have so much to do outside of the
NRAC that it is the only time we can give. Our committee has not received its
103
budget for the last four months.”
If the goal of the National Rehabilitation Act was to divert patients from the prison
environment, this has clearly failed as a result of spikes in arrests of methamphetamine users,
insufficient budgets for the NRAC, and limited alternatives to incarceration. The end result is that
methamphetamine users are still likely to spend a period of time either in prison or in a CDTDC.
Thailand’s prison system has long been associated with overcrowding, high rates of HIV and
104
tuberculosis infection, and inadequate staff-to-prisoner ratios. Detainees, who by law are meant
to be considered “patients,” are therefore essentially treated like criminals and are thus sentenced
both to time in prison and CDTDCs, and to negative health outcomes.
Conditions Inside the Compulsory Drug Treatment/

Detention Centers
Recent downsizing of the Thai military has led to many of the provincial military barracks being
105
converted into CDTDCs and run by the military on behalf of the Department of Probation. These
CDTDCs are run like military boot-camps with an emphasis on exercise regimens, discipline, and
time spent reciting anti-drug rhetoric. One recently released 23-year-old male from the camp in
Chiang Dao noted:
“After waking up at 5 am we exercised until 7 am, ate breakfast, and then spent
the rest of the morning listening to one of the army guys tell us about why drugs
106
were bad.”
The “Jirasa Model” is the predominant program operating in the Air Force-run CDTDCs.
The “Jirasa Model” is a combination of selected activities from a therapeutic community model and
military principles including discipline, military drills, leadership training, and exercise.
The daily routine consists of: a 5 am wake-up call; morning prayers and meditation; jogging;
cleaning living quarters; breakfast; paying respect to the national flag; muscle stretching; small
group meeting with counselor; lunch; life skills; military drills and discipline; muscle strength
training; sports; dinner; paying respect to the flag; prayers and meditation; paying respect to the
107
king; checking water taps and turning off lights for an 8:30 pm bedtime.
108
Fifty of 84 CDTDCs are implemented by military personnel. Many of the CDTDCs report that
visits by a qualified medical practitioner are intermittent and a nurse may visit one morning a week:
“We see the doctor about once every couple of weeks and the nurse sometimes
one morning a month, and otherwise there is no health staff anywhere. The only
109
medicines we have are paracetamol.”
26 THAILAND
This does not constitute medically supervised treatment as per the principles of drug depen-
110
dence treatment released by UNODC and WHO. The Thai Department of Mental Health is
nominally in charge of the program design, but discussions with the department suggest they are
actually not effectively involved at all. The Deputy Secretary General of the Department of Mental
Health indicated that divisions between the Ministry of Public Health and the Department of
Probation limited involvement of the Department of Mental Health in the management, evalua-
111
tion, and technical support of the CDTDCs.
112
Ten of the CDTDCs are run by the Ministry of Interior, rather than the military. The
Department of Probation acknowledges that the conditions in the CDTDCs that are managed by
113
the Ministry of Interior are much harsher than those in CDTDCs run by the military, with little
accountability for budgets allocated for these CDTDCs. One senior official who worked in one of
the CDTDCs managed by the Ministry of Interior said:
“It’s very tough; we have no budgets, no assistance, and no idea what we are
114
doing.”
A visit to a police-run CDTDC in Udon Thani, in northeast Thailand, confirmed that condi-
tions were poor, with patients receiving no medical checks, and being subjected to harsh discipline
such as chaining and beating. When asked why a Thai male was tethered by a heavy steel chain
around his neck to a concrete pillar in the middle of the center, the same senior staff member
responded:
“He is being unsociable; we have asked the NRAC to remove him from here
and send him to a hospital, as we think he has a mental illness, but they are not
115
meeting this month; we will have to wait for another month.”
Research conducted by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network uncovered allegations of

physical beatings used to discipline inmates for breaches of CDTDC rules, including engaging in
consensual sexual activity.
While reports have not detailed rapes in CDTDCs, such behaviors have been widely docu-
mented in Thai prisons. Despite this, the Department of Probation does not provide condoms
either to those imprisoned and awaiting disposition by the NRAC, or in the CDTDCs. As of early
2010, services for voluntary counseling and testing for HIV and the provision of anti-retroviral
116
treatment were unavailable in the CDTDCs in Thailand.
Release and Recidivism

After three to four months in detention, detainees are released back to their communities with no
pre-release health screening, no medical referrals, no job placement, and every chance of return-
ing to methamphetamine use. Despite the documented need for relapse prevention efforts upon
release from drug treatment, no such programs are available and return to drug use is common.
As one former detainee stated:
“It is just so nice to be free after prison and then the camp. You miss your friends
because the camp is generally in another province away from your family and
friends; when you see [your friends] again, you don’t worry about anything, and if
117
they are smoking methamphetamine, so would I.”
Individuals are required to report to the provincial Department of Probation two months
after release from the CDTDCs and submit to a compulsory urine test to screen for methamphet-
amines. This system is not monitored on a national scale, though interviews with officials sug-
gest that some 20 percent of individuals test positive for methamphetamine within two months
118
of release in parts of the country. In one large cohort study in northern Thailand, 70 percent
of those arrested for methamphetamine use were arrested and incarcerated a second time after
119
release.
Proliferation of the Compulsory Drug Treatment/

Detention Centers
In Thailand, in the year 2000, there were six CDTDCs; in 2004 there were 35 CDTDCs; by 2005
120
this number had increased to 49; and at the close of 2008, there were 84 CDTDCs operating
121
in military barracks in Thailand. Wanchai Roujanavong, the previous Director-General of the
Department of Probation stated that continued expansion of the CDTDC model was the goal, and
that they would like to see another 25 CDTDCs set up (this would mean at least one CDTDC in
every province of the country), as he believed that only 25 percent of people who should be sent
122
to CDTDCs were currently being admitted.
The prime minister of Thailand stated in March 2009 that the aim of Thailand’s next phase
123
of a “war on drugs” was to get 120,000 people into rehabilitation programs. If this was to be
done utilizing the CDTDCs, Thailand would need to build another 300 facilities. In February
2010, that call was renewed with a plan by the Deputy Prime Minister to send 300,000 drug
124
addicts for treatment—half of those to CDTDCs—by the close of the fiscal year. There has been
no large-scale evaluation done in Thailand as to the effectiveness of the CDTDCs in preventing
relapse to drug use.
28 THAILAND
Figure 3. Detained methamphetamine users undergo military-style training at a CDTDC
in Thailand in April 2009
Cambodia
Cambodia, unlike neighboring Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, had no tradition of opium cultiva-
125
tion and was never considered part of the area of illicit opiate production known as the “Golden
Triangle.” The UN peacekeeping operation and the 1993 election led to foreign investment,
increased trade, and the use of Cambodia as a transit point for heroin and cannabis, which were
smuggled out of the country’s two ports: Sihanoukville and Koh Kong. In 2001, the International
Labour Organization cited a 1995 report from the The Cambodia Daily:
“Smugglers of illegal narcotics are increasingly using Cambodia as a transit point
for the drugs which are heading primarily to United States and European markets
… Ministry of Interior officials have pointed to Banteay Meanchey Province, on
the northwestern Thai border and the coastal Koh Kong Province as the current
narcotic smuggling “hot spots” … hundreds of kilograms of heroin are seized by
126
anti-narcotic officials every month.”
By 1996, Cambodia had been added to the US State Department’s list of countries that
127
needed to take greater action to control production or trafficking of illicit drugs. This was a clas-
sification the Cambodian government contested, noting that they were in fact a transit country
128
in need of greater international law enforcement support. While formal assessments were not
published, anecdotal reports documented increased production, trafficking, and use of metham-
phetamine tablets in Cambodia from the beginning of 2000. A report in the Far East Economic
Review in 2001, cited by the International Labour Organization, notes:
“Thousands of poor farmers on the northwestern border with Thailand daily pop
two to three pills of yama (which means horse medicine in Thai) to work longer
and stave off hunger… Dealers are using Cambodia as a dumping ground for pills
made in Burma that sell for just under US$1 each to an alarming number of rural
labourers... Sopheap is one of thousands of Khmer Rouge fighters who defected to
the army before being disbanded … He began taking yama when working for a
31
Thai logging company in Cambodia for a meager but steady income. The more
wood he cut, the more money he got. So he was happy to try a pill that promised
129
to increase his productivity.”
By 2002, the large-scale presence of methamphetamine was officially confirmed with an

130
estimated 81 percent increase from 2001 in the seizure of methamphetamine tablets. One US
State Department report said that:
“Cambodia has experienced a significant increase in the amount of amphetamine-
type stimulants transiting from the Golden Triangle. The UNODC estimates that
100,000 methamphetamine tablets entered Cambodia each day, some 75 percent
131
of which are thought to be exported to Thailand.”
132
A UNODC report from 2002 noted that yama tablets were so readily available in the
border town of Poipet that the price of a single tablet decreased by nearly half, to 60 cents, in
133
the past two years. While much yama trafficking in border areas was attributed to the import
of drugs manufactured in Burma, drug control authorities subsequently confirmed methamphet-
amine production within Cambodia and noted discoveries of laboratories capable of producing
precursor chemicals and crystal methamphetamine powder, and seizures of precursor chemicals
134
and tablet-pressing machinery.
Methamphetamine has been ranked the most commonly abused drug in Cambodia since
135
2003, with abuse increasing every year between 2003 and 2006. In 2007, the National Authority
for Combating Drugs (NACD) stated that methamphetamine accounted for 80 percent of all illicit
136
drug use and that more than 80 percent of users were under 25 years old.
In addition to methamphetamine tablets, crystal methamphetamine (known as ice), has
become increasingly available in Cambodia. In 2007, one study showed that 42 percent of street
137
children sampled had used crystal methamphetamine. Estimates of the total number of drug
users in Cambodia remain unclear and differ greatly; the NACD estimated that there were 5,797
drug users in 2007 and UNAIDS estimated that there were 46,300 problematic illicit drug users
138
for the same period.

Public Health
In 2007, the National Centre for HIV, Dermatology and STIs (NCHADS) conducted a study of
methamphetamine use among women in the entertainment industry in Cambodia and suggested
that methamphetamine use was associated with a higher number of sex partners. The study also
suggested associations between methamphetamine use and HIV infection among sex workers in
139
Cambodia. The NACD also reported HIV associated with drug use (including opiate injection)
in a small sample (n=77) of injecting drug users who showed an HIV prevalence of 35 percent and
140
another survey of 647 non-injecting drug users who showed HIV prevalence of 3.7 percent. Both
32 CAMBODIA
figures are well above the 2007 national HIV prevalence estimated by sentinel surveillance at 0.9
141
percent and prompted recognition of the need for a harm reduction approach to both injecting
and non-injecting drug use. This has led to an authorization that currently allows one NGO to
provide clean needles and syringes through outreach programs in the capital, Phnom Penh. At the
142
time of this report, Cambodia was preparing to begin its first methadone maintenance program.
143
Methamphetamine is primarily smoked and harm reduction responses to non-injecting drug
use in Cambodia remain scant.
Stimulant users in Cambodia report several other behaviors that increase risk of disease
or arrest. A 2008 cross-sectional study conducted among methamphetamine users in and out
of CDTDCs explored STI prevalence, rates of arrest, and other individual and public health con-
144
cerns. The study population (n=651) was overwhelmingly male (96 percent); only 30 percent had
completed high school; 46 percent of those surveyed used methamphetamine four or more times a
week; and after using methamphetamine they drank alcohol (68 percent), had sex (60 percent), or
engaged in fighting (33 percent). Half reported that methamphetamine use increased their sexual
desire, and 60 percent reported having sex while high on methamphetamine or alcohol or both.
Female users in the sample were almost nine times more likely than non-users to test positive for
chlamydia (27 percent vs. 3.9 percent).
Nearly two-thirds of these methamphetamine users (61 percent) had passed through the
CDTDCs previously and the median duration of stay in such a center was 90 days. Two-thirds of
those surveyed (65 percent) were forced to enroll by their families, and 30 percent were forced
145
into the CDTDCs by the authorities.
Figure 4. Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention Centers in Cambodia (2009)
Fourteen CDTDCs operated in Cambodia in 2009. There were none in operation in 2000.146
Source: http://www.canbypublications.com/maps/simpleprov.htm.
Due process in cases of detention is a fundamental human right applicable “to all deprivations
147
of liberty, including non-criminal detention for drug dependency.” Despite this, procedures
in Cambodia mandating treatment lack the most basic protections against arbitrariness. As one
detainee notes:
“I got arrested when I was walking with a group of friends. I was told the reason
I was arrested was that I was walking with too many people at the same time
(12 people). I didn’t go to court or face a trial. I was told I was a yama user and
148
therefore required treatment.”
Police roundups of drug users and others in Cambodia, including sex workers, are well docu-
149
mented, whether as part of “clean streets” campaigns prior to national holidays or elections, or
in response to international or national dynamics. NGOs reported increased arrests of drug users
and sex workers in 2008, for example, following the decision of the US government to downgrade
150
Cambodia’s status related to efforts to combat human trafficking.
Instances of non-drug users being put in the CDTDCs have also been documented by human
rights NGOs. A representative of a human rights organization commented on police roundups
in Cambodia:
“None of these people have been charged with any crime. They are arrested because
they’re poor and because they’re either living or working on the streets. So they may
be sex workers who are working on the streets, they may be street children, they may
be street families who have no houses, they may be drug users; some of the people
we met said they didn’t live or work on the streets, but because of the way they were
dressed they were mistaken for poor people therefore they had to be homeless, so they
151
were arrested and detained as well. So it’s very indiscriminate.”
The 1997 Law on the Control of Drugs in Cambodia, amended in 2005 states that peo-
ple arrested and found to be dependent on illicit drugs, must appear before the court where an
order may be made for them to enter CDTDCs. The expenses related to this treatment must be
152
paid for by the state. Nonetheless, multiple case reports make clear that there was no medical
assessment for severity of drug dependence, no judicial process, and no rights protections afforded
to detainees prior to or during their internment in CDTDCs. Of six CDTDCs visited by WHO
in collaboration with a government team in 2007, only one reported any form of pre-admission
153
assessment (which was only a basic physical examination).
In addition to police roundups, many methamphetamine users are sent to the CDTDCs by
their parents, who are asked to sign a contract with the center. The law requires the entire costs
of “treatment” to be provided by the government, although it is not known how much money (if
154
any at all) is actually provided to the centers to cover the costs of detention. Despite government
assurances that costs are covered by the state, families of drug users report that admission costs
between US$100 and US$200, and relatives of detainees are expected to contribute US$50 per
155 156
month. The average salary in Cambodia in 2008 was US$167 per month.
34 CAMBODIA
Detention Centers
Currently, CDTDCs share no common standards, though all report deficiencies in human
resources, and no mechanism exists to ensure observance of minimum standards. As an assistant
to the Secretary General of NACD notes:
“Each drug treatment center has its own regulations and all of them lack human
resources. Several regimens are based on military drills and exercise, with little or
157
no treatment and scant vocational resources.”
The findings from a WHO report conducted in 2007 are consistent with the findings from
this assessment. Both reports indicate that most of the CDTDCs in Cambodia do not have health
professionals on staff, which severely limits their ability to provide medical assistance in the case
of emergencies, or even assist with treatment of withdrawal associated with drug dependence or
158
to provide psychological counseling. The similarities in the findings from the WHO report and
this assessment indicate that recommendations made to address the concerns raised in the WHO
report have not been implemented. In this assessment, many former detainees report that they
did not receive any health check upon admission to the CDTDCs, received no health care while
they were in the CDTDCs, and relapsed back to methamphetamine use immediately upon release.
WHO staff in Cambodia estimate that the lack of any qualified staff or evidence-based treatment
159
has probably led to a relapse rate of almost 100 percent. As one former detainee interviewed for
this report recalled:
“I didn’t receive any health checks or health care. There was no medication. Drug
treatment consisted of a daily boot-camp regimen. Wake up, exercise, shower,
salute the flag, have boot-camp, go into work groups, lock up, eat, lock up, sleep.
There was no education about drugs, they just told us to stay clean. They said that
160
if we wanted to stay off drugs we had to find a job.”
Many detainees have reported beatings in the CDTDCs. Two men said:
“All the staff carried around a bamboo stick, and if they saw people that weren’t
161
working they would hit them across the back.”
“I saw three staff beat a guy unconscious; they then dragged him away to another
room. They also beat me once, but they put a blanket over my head so I couldn’t
162
see or defend myself.”
Others mentioned the forced labor that they were assigned, including menial tasks that
could not qualify as vocational training or drug treatment. These tasks were uncompensated and
often seemed pointless or degrading.
163
“We had to cut the grass for one hour a day with a pair of scissors.”
“We had to dig holes in the dirt. But we were not digging for any reason,
they just didn’t know what to do with us so they made us dig holes and then fill
164
them in.”
Figure 5. Sleeping quarters in the Bavel CDTDC, Cambodia (May 2008)
Source: Patrick Duigan.
People released describe overcrowding, poor hygienic practices, the detention of people
under 18 years old alongside adults, as well as the detention of people with mental illness:
“There were about 70 of us put in one room of about 20 by 30 feet. It felt very
crowded, and it was filthy. There was a mix of people in there: drug users, homeless,
165
alcoholics. The youngest person was six, and the oldest about 37.”
The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that detaining adults and juveniles together
violates international norms, noting that juveniles should be detained with adults only as a “last
166
resort.” In their fourth quarterly report in 2007, the NACD’s routine analysis of data provided
by government-run CDTDCs showed that 31 percent of the 357 treatment admissions were of
167
people younger than 18 years old. In the CDTDCs in Cambodia, there is no reported effort to
separate adult and juvenile detainees, which is in clear violation of the Convention of the Rights
of the Child.
36 CAMBODIA
Patrick Duigan, MD, based with the International Office on Migration in Phnom Penh,
visited several CDTDCs in 2008 in an effort to understand the extent of health concerns in the
CDTDCs. He visited the center in Sisophon, the capital of Banteay Meanchey Province, which
opened in 2002 and is run by military police, and noted that many detainees appeared to be suf-
fering a range of health concerns attributed to malnutrition. He also suggested that mental health
168
problems were rife and many detainees made regular attempts to escape. In the Bavel Detention
Center, in Battambang Province, also run by the military police, he noted that the majority of
detainees were extremely poor and that there was “absolutely no rehabilitation activity and no
169
skills training.”
Figure 6. Bavel District CDTDC, Cambodia (May 2008)
Source: Patrick Duigan.
International literature widely documents that HIV risk in closed settings is increased due
to consensual and non-consensual sex and the sharing of needles for either drug use or tattoo-
170
ing. Despite this, condoms are not available in CDTDCs in Cambodia and neither are sterile
implements for the purposes of tattooing. Furthermore, none of the CDTDCs visited during the
WHO assessment provided STI testing or treatment, despite the known STI risk profiles of meth-
171
amphetamine users in Cambodia. As one recently released female noted:
“There was tattooing and piercing going on, and there were men who had sex with
172
the lady boys.”
D E T E N T I O N A S T R E AT M E N T 3 7
Another reported:
“There was lots of HIV risk behavior. There was a lot of penile piercing and a lot of
sex and rape between inmates and staff and inmates and inmates. Sometimes the
173
staff would pay the prettier girls for sex but usually only 5000 Riel (US$1.20).”
In addition, there were reports of detainees being asked to perform sex work by guards who
took a share of the proceeds. As a recently released female noted:
“The guards pimp the inmates—the ones that are sex workers—as well. They let
them go out all night and get as high as they like, as long as the girls give them
all the money they made in the morning. These girls are also the ones that bring
174
yama tablets back into the center.”
Penile modification has been documented in half of the male methamphetamine users in
175
a recent study in northern Thailand and the majority of those who had modified had done so
while in some form of custodial setting. While studies have not detailed the extent of the practice
in Cambodian prisons or CDTDCs, multiple interviews noted the prevalence of both penile modi-
fication and tattooing in the CDTDCs:
“Yes, I have seen it a lot. People sharpen a toothbrush and make a slit in the shaft
176
of the penis in which to push marbles.”
“There was tattooing, they used needles and mixed charcoal and toothpaste
177
together to make ink. There were also people having sex.”
Overcrowding and confinement in close proximity to others elevates the risk of tuberculosis
178
transmission and infection, yet none of the CDTDCs in Cambodia provide tuberculosis screen-
ing or treatment.
Although HIV rates are unknown, reported sexual and drug use histories of metham-
phetamine users suggest many people detained are at risk of or infected with HIV. None of the
CDTDCs currently offers voluntary HIV counseling and testing or antiretroviral treatment, nor
179
referral to such services even when they are available near the center.

Not only is admission to detention in the CDTDCs in Cambodia arbitrary, but so too are the cir-
cumstances of release. The assistant to the Secretary General of NACD explained:
“It is not very clear how patients are released but most likely doctors will decide if
180
someone can go or not. Some people could stay four or five years.”
A recent study showed that most people are released after a median detention time of three
181
months. The release criteria are unclear but informal discussions with staff suggest one of the
criteria for release includes a detainee’s demonstrated ability to recite the Cambodian National
38 CAMBODIA
Drug Laws from memory. Recitation of the laws forms part of the daily routine of detainees in the
182
CDTDCs in Cambodia.
No formal evaluations have yet been conducted to assess the effectiveness of the CDTDCs in
preventing relapse to methamphetamine use upon release, although experts working in Cambodia
183
estimate that the relapse rate is close to 100 percent. WHO reports that they plan to assist the
184
government of Cambodia to undertake evaluation in the near future.

Detention Centers
In an interview with The Cambodia Daily in 2004, the Cambodian government announced plans
to build its first drug rehabilitation center, with 300 beds, in Phnom Penh. On October 23, 2006,
the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, released The Implementation of Education, Treatment
and Rehabilitation Measures for Drug Addicts. The instruction called upon all concerned ministries,
agencies, and provincial and municipal authorities to implement several strategies without delay,
including finding one location in each province to organize a “drug addict treatment and rehabili-
185
tation center.” The instruction recommended that the Ministry of Health “create a drug addict
treatment unit at the national level in Phnom Penh, arrange consultation services at provincial-
municipal and district referral hospitals to advise and cure drug addicts sent to the hospitals by
their parents, develop technical standards to control drug addict treatment services in communi-
ties’ drug treatment and rehabilitation centers, and eliminate treatment places that are not autho-
rized by the Ministry of Health.” The Prime Minister also called on communities, families, and
186
former drug addicts to create model drug-free communities.
There are currently 14 CDTDCs nationwide, run by government ministries, plus at least
187
four NGO-run centers. In a recent interview, Prum Sokha, Secretary of State at the Ministry of
Interior, called the CDTDCs:
“…ad hoc accidental creations, which do not really offer treatment. What we need
is not a technical solution but a comprehensive one bringing together education,
188
drug users’ families, and the community—this is very important.”
None of the 14 state-managed CDTDCs are currently operated by the Ministry of Health.
Instead, the CDTDCs are predominately operated by the Military Police of the Royal Cambodian
Armed Forces, which is a component of the Ministry of National Defense. Some CDTDCs are run
by police (overseen by the Ministry of Interior), and a small number of CDTDCs are run by the
189
Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation. According to staff at the Ministry of
Health, H.E. Dr. Mam Bun Heng, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Health, is reported to have
stated in mid-2008 that all such CDTDCs operate outside of the official mandate of the Ministry
190
of Health and that his ministry had no jurisdiction to intervene in such premises.
In 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a plan to reduce the number of centers to
one by 2015. However, the proposed center would hold as many people as the other centers com-
191
bined. In addition, this center would be run by the NACD rather than the Ministry of Health.
As this report went to print, the UN Country Team in Cambodia issued a statement welcoming
the government plan to scale down to one center; the statement, however, stops short of calling
for the closure of all CDTDCs in Cambodia (see Annex 3). In fact, the UN Country Team agrees
to provide assistance to the centers, provided certain conditions are met, an agreement that risks
sounding like an endorsement of the CDTDC model. Subsequent to the UN Country Team state-
ment, Michel Sidibé, the director of UNAIDS, issued a directive clearly calling for the closure of all
Cambodia’s CDTDCs, saying “I am asking relevant partners to join me in intensifying UN system
support toward: the earliest possible closure of detention centres, which do not meet minimum
192
standards in Cambodia and other countries.
40 CAMBODIA
Laos
Drug production and use in Laos has traditionally centered on the cultivation of opium; in fact,
193
since the 1950s, Laos has been one of the world’s major opium producers. Much of the opium
194
has been consumed in a traditional cultural context. It has been used for both medicinal and
social purposes and indeed is also grown as a cash crop. Opium was so central to the fundamental
economy and culture of many of the ethnic groups living in the highlands of Laos that it struck
many Laotians as strange that it would ever be considered illegal. Soubanh Srithirath, who was
both the deputy foreign minister and the chairman of the Lao Commission for Drug Control and
Supervision (LCDC), made a speech in November 1995 in which he urged westerners to be more
understanding of opium as part of the “Lao Soung” way of life. Apparently aiming his remarks at
some westerners who thought Laos was not doing enough to eradicate opium cultivation, Srithirath
explained that for many people in the highlands “smoking opium is no different from the way you
195
in the West drink wine.”
Between 1975 and 1990, Laos was sustained by Soviet aid. Despite the presence of a US
Embassy in Vientiane, the US Drug Enforcement Agency was unable to implement its war on
196
drugs strategy throughout the period of the Cold War. However, as communism began to col-
lapse, western aid moved in to fill the gap left by the Soviet Union. It was at this juncture that the
US Government—in particular, the US Drug Enforcement Agency through its main international
ally, the United Nations Drug Control Program (now the United Nations Office on Drugs and
197
Crime )—stepped up pressure on the government of Laos to eradicate opium. In May 1999,
an agreement was made between the president of Laos and the UN to eliminate opium produc-
tion in the region within six years through alternative development, demand reduction, and law
198
enforcement.
In 2000, the UNDCP promised US$80 million to expedite opium elimination, and in
December 2000, the prime minister issued Decree 14 mandating the total elimination of opium by
199
2006.
41
In 1989, opium cultivation peaked at an estimated 380 tons, and by 2007, Laos had only an
estimated 9 tons of cultivated opium. This was heralded as a success by the UN, though observers
noted that eradication efforts had consequences, including social dislocation, economic hardship,
200
increased poverty, and large numbers of untreated opium-dependent people. Some observers
201
also believe opium eradication contributed to the large-scale uptake of methamphetamine.
At the beginning of the new millennium, at the same time as UNODC and western embas-
sies in Laos were pressuring the government to crack down on opium cultivation, methamphet-
amine tablets started to make their way across the Mekong River from Thailand and circulate
202
among unemployed youth, sex workers, and nightclub goers in Vientiane. The first docu-
mented seizure of methamphetamine tablets was reported in 1997, and by 1999 the Vientiane
prefecture reported that 2.5 percent of youth between the ages of 13 and 30 in the capital Vientiane
used yaba. Similar figures were reported from Savanakhet (3.5 percent) and Oudomxay (2.8
203
percent). Thailand’s well documented “war on drugs” in 2003 was also believed to have con-
tributed to a change in the trafficking routes of methamphetamine tablets. UNODC noted in
2006 that methamphetamine tablet trafficking moved to less policed and more vulnerable states
204
such as Laos.
The alarming spread of methamphetamine tablets by 2003 caught authorities unaware, and
caused some diplomats to question whether too much attention had been placed on opium. The
Australian Ambassador at the time expressed serious misgivings, stating:
“The international community has put too much focus on getting rid of opium, but
205
this yaba problem is much worse, and we should be focused on that instead.”
The Laos authorities became increasingly concerned about the widespread use of metham-
phetamine when it became apparent that the smuggling of methamphetamine tablets from Nong
Khai, Thailand across the Mekong into Vientiane was affecting youth, including scions of the
206
influential communist party and government officials. Despite the emergence of methamphet-
amine, the donor community continued to devote resources to opium eradication, although only
207
about 10% of the US $80 million pledged to the Laos government was ever received. Opium,
which can be readily converted into heroin, was long a concern of the US and western countries,
whereas methamphetamine tablets remained a domestic drug threat.

Public Health
Despite methamphetamine tablets being the most widely used illicit drug in Laos, there is a
dearth of information on their implications for individual and public health. In 1999, UNODC,
in conjunction with the Laos government, conducted a survey among students from 13 schools
in Vientiane. It found that 4.8 percent of students between 12 and 21 years old (n=2631) in the
208
survey reported using yaba and 11 percent of those had injected it. In the second round national
42 LAOS
HIV surveillance conducted in 2004, 15 percent of sex workers in Luang Namtha reported ever
209
using amphetamines and 11 percent of those had injected in the last 12 months, although it is
not clear what they injected.
By 2005, the Asia and Pacific Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Information Center (APAIC)
reported that methamphetamine was the most widely used illicit drug in Laos, that 4.6 million
tablets were seized that year, and that national drug arrest and seizure data showed that 90 per-
cent of drug-related arrests were related to methamphetamine. Males accounted for 72 percent
210
of those arrested.
A 2005 UNODC report stated that methamphetamine was increasingly available and used
by different segments of society including laborers, school students, married men, and farm work-
211
ers. Participants in the survey commented that methamphetamine was being marketed as a drug
that could help alleviate symptoms of opiate withdrawal. The report found that public perception
and understanding of the health and societal impacts of methamphetamine use were low. Many
people who used methamphetamine reported doing so to increase energy or make them stronger,
and because they thought the drug could be used as a painkiller or opiate substitute. Participants
interviewed for the report did note that methamphetamine use was associated with increased
alcohol and tobacco use and increased sexual risk behavior. Individual and public health interven-
tions were deemed non-existent. Participants noted that those who used methamphetamine were
also likely to be arrested, incarcerated for a period of time in police cells without any form of psy-
212
chological or medical treatment, and that they return to using methamphetamine upon release.
In 2006, the LCDC estimated that there were 5,000 methamphetamine users in Vientiane
213
and 5,780 methamphetamine users in surrounding Vientiane Province. A study conducted
between 2006 and 2007 with funding from AusAID’s Illicit Drugs Initiative aimed to explore
the individual and public health implications of methamphetamine use among young people in
Vientiane and Vientiane Province, including its implications for STIs, sexual risk behavior, and
rates of arrest and incarceration. The 443 methamphetamine users interviewed were between
the ages of 15 and 25, were predominantly male (90 percent), and used yaba at least once a week
(46 percent). More than a third (38 percent) reported that methamphetamine increased sexual
desire, and 54 percent of people reported drinking alcohol after taking methamphetamine. A high
proportion of males reported having been drunk or high on methamphetamine while having sex.
In addition, a high percentage of males reported frequenting female sex workers while either using
methamphetamine (55 percent) or while drunk on alcohol (97 percent). Overall, 13.6 percent of
participants screened positive for chlamydia; 32 percent of all females tested positive compared
214, 215
to 12 percent of males.
In 2008, the UNODC Laos country office estimated that there were 35,000 to 40,000
216
amphetamine-type stimulant addicts in the country. It is not clear how they arrived at this esti-
mate or how the notion of drug dependence and measurements of addiction were applied. A rapid
escalation in the construction and use of CDTDCs, built with funds from international donors,
has accompanied reports of increasing methamphetamine use.
217
Health personnel with limited training and communities and families of yaba users often turn
to law enforcement for assistance in managing problematic methamphetamine users:
“Sometimes the family could not treat their children anymore so they ask the police
to send their children to the rehabilitation center. Thus the methamphetamine user
will be arrested and kept at the village office until working hours, when the head [of
the] village, police, and parents come together and identify who are the yaba users
and who are the dealers. The users will be sent to a rehabilitation center, and the
218
dealers will have their case formally investigated by the police.”
In Laos, issues arising in a community are often dealt with by village mediation units. The
village mediation units are a traditional platform for mediating adult disputes at a community level,
219
and therefore obviate the need for involvement of state-based public security. Methamphetamine
users are often accused of disturbing the peace and therefore find themselves before village media-
tion units where they will typically be warned and asked to stop using methamphetamine. After
several transgressions of community-set conditions, they may find themselves being taken to a
CDTDC by their own family, members of the community, or local police. As shown in Cambodia,
activities after using methamphetamine include drinking and fighting. These activities often result
in arrest and incarceration in a CDTDC or a prison, particularly for those unable to pay fines:
“Some of my friends used to fight after using yaba, and the police arrested
them and called the parents to mediate, and the parents paid a fine of 500,000
220
kip (50 USD).”
Methamphetamine users also report that police use them as spies and informants:
“After being arrested, I was put in jail and they asked me where I had got the
yaba. They asked me if I wanted to be a spy and communicate with the dealers.
The police left me in prison for a week then gave me 500,000 kip (50 USD) and
10 yaba tablets. If they didn’t keep me in prison for 10 days, the dealers would be
221
suspicious and beat me.”
In many cases, methamphetamine users are rounded up by the police and incarcerated in
a CDTDC without any legal review of the person’s status of drug dependence or of the perceived
222
danger to the community that the detained person poses. Detention is also effected through a
contract signed between parents of the detainee and the administrators of the CDTDCs, despite the
fact that such documents have no legal validity for adults. The contract stipulates that treatment at
the CDTDC will be for a period of at least six months and if the detainee runs away, the parents
have the responsibility to return the person.
Dr. Chantravady, one of only a few psychiatrists in Laos, laments the lack of preadmission
health screening, particularly as it relates to diagnosis of mental health conditions, in a CDTDC
on the outskirts of Vientiane, stating:
44 LAOS
“I keep telling the directors of Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center the importance
of screening and testing, but they still don’t do it. Without good screening and
testing of new admissions, inmates who are suffering from mental health problems
223
may be wrongly treated for drug problems.”
Detention of Juveniles
The extent of compulsory detention of juveniles in Laos was initially uncovered by a government
224
investigation conducted in conjunction with UNICEF in 2003. The UNICEF-sponsored investi-
225
gation visited 11 centers, both CDTDC and prisons, in seven provinces and found that as many
as 150 detainees (the total numbers of people in all 11 centers was not given) were less than 18
years old. The overwhelming majority of juveniles (88 percent) in the CDTDCs were incarcerated
due to narcotics-related offenses, but the CDTDCs were also used to detain other juveniles accused
226
of petty crimes. Many youth were unsure about the charges on which they were detained.
The report detailed shortcomings of the detention system, including multiple violations of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. Few of the detainees had been formally sentenced. Eight
percent of juveniles in the survey were under 15 and had been taken to the CDTDCs by their
families or guardians. Less than 2 percent of crimes were considered of a serious enough nature
under Lao law for detention, and conditions in the places of detention visited failed to meet basic
requirements of international regulations, which include the provision of educational services,
appropriate nutrition, and adequate health care. Nearly all juveniles were being detained with
227 228
adults despite reporting abuses and a desire to be detained separately. Not one of the “treat-
ment” facilities in which they were detained had provided comprehensive drug rehabilitation
services, nor did the CDTDCs employ any staff who had been trained in counseling techniques or
229
treatment of drug-dependent children.
While the government of Laos has been reluctant to allow outside groups to monitor condi-
tions inside the CDTDCs, in 2006, UNICEF did begin to monitor the numbers of children in deten-
tion. The Laos government stopped this activity shortly after it had begun. At that time, UNICEF
230
had counted more than 600 child detainees in various detention facilities across the country.

Detention Centers
Today there are eight CDTDCs at various stages of operation in Laos. The Somsagna Drug
Rehabilitation Center was the first; it was opened just outside of Vientiane in 1999 for 214 patients,
under the control of the police. It had no facilities for any form of drug rehabilitation or treatment.
In 2002, the management of Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center was taken out of the hands
of police and put under the control of a board of directors under the supervision of the mayor of
231
Vientiane.
But even after the change in control, there were still problems with the center. It was one
of the CDTDCs criticized in the 2003 UNICEF report. Several other investigations also high-
lighted the unacceptable conditions prevailing in Somsagna and confirmed the findings of the
initial investigation. A 2004 WHO report noted that the admission and discharge criteria were
unclear, funds for food inadequate, and medical withdrawal from methamphetamine with phar-
macotherapy available but sporadic in its administration. In addition, detainees experienced high
rates of common skin infections, beriberi (thiamine deficiency), and STIs. About 30 percent of
232
those detained were under the age of 18, but were detained with adults.
By 2004, 2,658 detainees were in the Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center—more than ten
233
times the number of detainees in 1999. By 2007, in the wake of repeated reports of abuses and
234
appalling conditions, the number had decreased to 1,222. There are no facilities with which to
diagnose or treat HIV, tuberculosis, or STIs, though in 2003, the Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation
235
Center referred 120 detainees to the STI clinic within the Vientiane Youth Center. Despite a
UNODC recommendation to conduct comprehensive health assessments upon admission into
236
the CDTDCs, the lack of facilities, diagnostic instruments, and trained staff continues to limit
the implementation of pre-admission health screening. In addition, reports from recently released
detainees suggest that conditions have not improved:
“Each morning we got two scoops of rice soup and at lunch a handful of sticky
rice and a bowl of soup that’s made from pork bones with very little meat. Maybe
some soup, a handful of rice, and some vegetables for dinner. There is not enough
water for drinking, showering, and washing. The toilets are filthy, and there are
bags with shit lying around. We all eat and sleep in the same room, so that’s dirty
too. Each room is about seven by five meters, and there are about 35 to 40 people
237
in each room.”
Rules outlining procedures and regulations for those in the Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation
Center were drawn up by the director, Sisouphan Boupha, and specified the need for detainees to
238
be reeducated in the drug laws of Laos and to receive party indoctrination. Other rules, which
239
are still in effect today, include prohibitions against sexual activity, tattooing, or piercing. These
prohibitions are not effective, as one staff member notes:
“When you have many males locked up in a small space at night it is difficult to
know what goes on, but I have seen evidence that some of them do have sex, do
240
participate in tattooing and penile modifications.”
Despite the fact that sexual activity is forbidden, interviews with people who have recently
been released from the Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center highlight that sexual activity, both
consensual and nonconsensual, is highly prevalent and that condoms remain unavailable:
“Yes, I saw a lot of unsafe sex going on inside the center, particularly older boys
forcing younger boys to have sex with them. There were no condoms available; it’s
mainly unprotected sex. I also saw a lot of sex happening between gay men and
gay men, gay men and straight men, and straight men with younger boys, and
241
straight men with lady boys.”
46 LAOS
Accounts of rape seem to be linked to older detainees forcing themselves on younger detain-
ees. It appears that longer-term residents are often put in positions of power to enforce CDTDC
rules and regulations, but the position of power is clearly abused:
“The supervisors—people that have been in the center as residents a long time—
control the sleeping room and often force the younger boys to have sex with them.
242
I saw the supervisors rape boys between the ages of 10 and 14.”
In addition to allegations of rape, there were also references to the various forms of punish-
ment for infractions of CDTDC rules (including attempting to escape) and also to “calm” people
who were undergoing withdrawal from drug use. Punishments were meted out by both guards
and by supervisors:
“They always hit the people who are going through drug withdrawal, generally a
group of ten ‘supervisors’ will hit and kick the person until they became scared and
weak and calm down. If you go down quickly you won’t get beaten as badly, but if
243
you take time to go down, they beat you until you bleed.”
“They would attack anyone who tried to be strong or tried to escape. Ten men or
so would beat them, kick them. The guards would use their shoes to beat them.
I also saw the guards make people jump up and down like a frog until they were
244
exhausted, became weak, and fell down.”
Treatment for drug use also appears absent or insufficient:

“Basically, unless your family pays 600,000 kip every 45 days [US$70] you will
not receive any medication at all. If you are sick with a fever or anything, you
have to write a letter to the guard, and the guard will decide if you can wait in the
queue to see the health center. If you are really sick with clear signs of infection
they may send you to the hospital or try and find your family and tell them to
245
take care of you.”
In 2007, a US State Department report noted that the government of Laos refused multiple
requests from the International Committee of the Red Cross to establish a presence in Laos and
monitor prison conditions; it has, however, provided the UN and some NGOs with access to some
246
prisons and CDTDCs, but this access is strictly limited. The US State Department report goes
on to say that while it is generally believed that the conditions of CDTDCs are better than condi-
tions in prison, “the conditions are nevertheless spartan, lengths of detention indefinite and the
247
government does not permit regular independent monitoring.”
The head of the UNODC mission in Laos, Leik Boonwaat, said:
“My own observation is that compared to a few years back, the authorities in the
drug treatment centers in Laos are becoming more open and transparent, and this
is mainly due to quiet diplomatic efforts including repeated visits and participation
by treatment staff in various training and study visits organized by UNODC and
248
other partners.”
Accounts from those recently released, however, indicate that the CDTDCs have far to go.
As in Thailand and Cambodia, there remain serious concerns about the effectiveness of the
CDTDCs in Laos to treat, rehabilitate, and prevent recidivism among methamphetamine users.
A staff member from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center notes that “about 70 percent
of the people in Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center have been in here before; most of them
249
relapse.” More formal evaluation of relapse either has not been done or has not been docu-
mented. While UNODC has worked with the government to improve data and information col-
250
lection about narcotics seizures and arrests, this has not yet developed into improved data on
251
effectiveness of CDTDCs, with staff noting that rates of relapse are difficult to track. It is clear
that the government has responded to treatment failure by extending terms of detention: an indi-
vidual admitted to Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center for a second time will spend at least one
year in detention (initial terms are six months) and, upon a third admittance, the period will be
252
extended to two years. Dr. Chantravady is adamant that the CDTDCs in Laos have to improve:
“They need to follow up, and there needs to be a community network to help them
253
after a release.”
Those recently released from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center commented that the
center acted as a barrier to drug use because it removed people from a drug-using environment,
but as soon as people left, they would return to their old social environments and would use
methamphetamine again.
“The treatment is ineffective. All they do is try and make you not want to come
back to the center. It doesn’t stop you using drugs because as soon as you return to
your outside environment you will use again. They don’t deal with your addiction,
254
and they don’t help you change your behavior.”

Detention Centers
In ongoing efforts to appeal to the international community for assistance in dealing with its
country’s methamphetamine use, Minister Srithirath stated that Laos has reached a critical tipping
point, and that the assistance of international donors is needed to ensure that the balance moves in
255
the right direction. It is unclear what sort of balance or the direction to which Minister Srithirath
refers, but the international donor community has responded to his calls for assistance and as a
result, Laos has eight CDTDCs all built with bilateral donations. Despite enormous international
funding for ongoing opium eradication, alternative development and the construction of CDTDCs,
Minister Srithirath continues to ask the international donor community for further assistance:
“We are concerned at the lack of resources to address the problem of
methamphetamine and heroin abuse and alarmed at the emerging problem of
256
injecting drug users in certain border areas.”
48 LAOS
The international bilateral donor community active in funding projects to combat illicit
257
drugs in Laos is spearheaded by the Mini Dublin Group. In Laos, the Mini Dublin Group is
very active: the embassies of Australia and Japan share a rotating chairmanship and ambassadors
from the US, Germany, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and Swedish Charges d’Affairs are involved
in regular meetings and site visits in Laos. The meetings and site visits are often organized and
facilitated by UNODC and LCDC.
Despite the concerns of academics, NGOs, individual ambassadors, and other observers
of the government’s drug policy, the Mini Dublin Group continues to strike a positive tone: “The
Mini Dublin Group was very impressed with progress. They saw for themselves how appropriate
technology was providing a sustainable alternative to opium production and improving liveli-
258
hoods.” Concerns about the lack of evidence-based drug treatment, implications for the spread
of infectious diseases, poor sanitary and hygienic conditions, lack of trained staff, and allegations
of food shortages and human rights abuses have not been reflected in the work of the group. But
in fact they and other countries continue to give bilateral donations to build more CDTDCs.
In 2001, the then Chairman of the LCDC gave a speech to the Vientiane Mini Dublin Group
in which he was pleased to inform that “with UNDCP assistance the construction of the first
Detoxification Center for amphetamine-type stimulant addicts has already started and expected
259
to be completed in the first half of next year.” The US Embassy in Laos contributed to the
renovation of Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center in 2001, and they recently spent US$32,000
on renovating and furnishing a new women’s rehabilitation facility in the same grounds. The
US Embassy in Laos anticipates that this will afford young, female methamphetamine users the
opportunity to complete their full rehabilitation, lasting up to six months, in a secure residential
260
environment. In dedicating the new facility, the US ambassador remarked that:
“Those of you who are receiving treatment are the fortunate ones. You have the
chance to resume and rebuild your lives. The purpose of building this center
was not just to improve living conditions. The real purpose is to help you—the
patients—be better prepared to regain the control of your own lives that yaa baa
took away from you. As you know, this women’s rehabilitation center will allow
you to return to your homes and communities with skills you will need for success:
261
to acquire new job skills.”
At this stage, the effectiveness of the program at the women’s facility in Somsagna Drug
Rehabilitation Center has not been evaluated, nor have the living conditions or vocational training
programs.
The US has also provided financial support for the construction of other centers. In February
2005, the US Embassy’s bilateral counter-narcotics program provided US$600,000 for the con-
struction of a new 100-bed CDTDC in Savanakhet Province. A US State Department report notes
that the center demonstrates the outstanding cooperation between the governments of Laos and
the United States on demand reduction, and that the CDTDC is a model for future facilities and
262
stands as an example of what cooperation between the two countries can achieve. The purpose
of the CDTDC is to “treat drug addicts, especially those addicted to yaabaa.” The US Embassy said
263
it would work with UNODC to provide training to provincial medical staff of the CDTDC. In
addition, the US Embassy is preparing to finance a smaller CDTDC in Vientiane Province, about
264
70 kilometers from the capital.
Linthong Phetsavan, Head of the Permanent Secretariat of LCDC, acknowledged the inter-
national support and financing of the CDTDCs at the 26th Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials
on Drug Matters (ASOD) held in Singapore in September 2005:
“The construction of other Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers in Savanakhet
and Champasak respectively, as part of assistance from the government of Thailand
and the United States of America, is nearly completed. Hopefully the handover
ceremony of the center will be held later this year. I am also pleased to inform
you that China has agreed to provide financial support for the construction of
Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Oudomxay Province whereby Vietnam
will provide financial support for the construction of another center in Vientiane
265
City.”
In December 2005, Thailand co-chaired the handover ceremony for the “Treatment and
Rehabilitation Center” located 21 km out of Pakse in Champasak Province, for which it had con-
266
tributed about US$650,000 for construction and medical supplies; the center officially opened
in 2007. Thailand’s ONCB notes that the CDTDC was “to be … the symbol …of the 55th anniversary
of Thai-Laos Diplomatic Protocol as well as the cooperation on drugs control between the two
267
countries.”
China funded the redesign of a CDTDC in Oudomxay in 2007. This new design was built
to allow for its multipurpose functioning: it serves as the office of the Provincial Commission for
Drug Control in Oudomxay, as a CDTDC, and as an office for a joint project between UNODC
268
and United Nations Industrial Development Organization. In 2007, the government of Brunei
269
contributed to the construction of two smaller CDTDCs in Sayaburi. Some of these CDTDCs
operate under the provincial health authorities and some are under the Minister of Interior.
According to the provincial chief of the LCDC in Luang Prabang, Bounheuang Bulyaphol,
the Japan International Cooperation Agency recently contributed US$86,000 to build two new
buildings and a new 3-meter-high by 1.5-km-square wall in a redevelopment of an opium detoxifi-
cation center in Luang Prabang. He was however skeptical about whether the new facility would
be big enough:
“There are an estimated 5,000 yaba users in Luang Prabang, we do not have
enough resources, and this drug treatment center can only accommodate 150 users
270
per year, 50 inmates at any one time.”
50 LAOS
Table 1. International financial support for CDTDCs in Laos 2001–2008
Year Location International Support USD amount
2001 Vientiane UNDCP supports the first detoxification center for Unknown
amphetamine-type stimulants users in Laos
2001 Vientiane US Embassy contributes to renovation Unknown

of Somsagna
2005 Savanakhet US Embassy funds building of CDTDC US$600,000
2005 Pakse Government of Thailand funds building of US$650,000

“Treatment and Rehabilitation” center
2007 Oudomxay China funds redesign of a former opium Unknown

detoxification center
2007 Sayaburi Government of Brunei funds constructiuon Unknown

of two small centers
2008 Luang Prabang Japan International Cooperation Agency US$86,000

funds renovations to center
As of 2009, the expansion of the Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center model across the
country has resulted in eight CDTDCs at various stages of completion, operation, and utilization.
Figure 7. The new Provincial Commission for Drug Control/UNODC/United Nations Industrial
Development Organization project office and CDTDC in Oudomxay (Laos)
Source: UNODC Laos country office.
Figure 8. Map of Laos showing eight CDTDCs, year 2009. There were none in 2000.
Source: http://www.mapsofworld.com/laos/laos-political-map.html
The government of Laos and its foreign partners continue to fund and promote this
compulsory drug treatment system despite the fact that the effectiveness, either in terms of the
long-term benefits to the individual methamphetamine users detained in these settings, or to the
wider community, has not been scientifically assessed. A US State Department report released
in 2008 states, “Most existing treatment facilities are notably deficient in staff proficiency and
271
effective vocational training.” Michael Hahn, the former UNAIDS country representative in
Laos adds that:
“At the moment, on a country-wide level, the centers are operating well below
capacity and lack training, equipment, medical supplies, or developed vocational
272
training tools to adequately rehabilitate methamphetamine users.”
Leik Boonwaat notes

“There are currently only four fully operational centers: The Somsagna Treatment
and Rehabilitation Center with 800 patients, The Champasak Drug Treatment
Center with about 20–30 patients, The Savanakhet Drug Treatment and
Rehabilitation Center with about 20–30 patients, and the Oudomxay Drug
Treatment and Rehabilitation Center with about 20–30 patients. The treatment
52 LAOS
facilities in Luang Prabang, Sayaburi and Phong Sali are not operational. Except
for Somsagna all other centers are very much under-utilized and have the capacity
273
to treat up to 200 patients each.”
The capacity of the centers to provide appropriate treatment has not been evaluated at this
stage. In addition, Boonwaat acknowledges that,
“Drug addicts who have committed a criminal offence would be put in the criminal
justice correctional facilities to which we [UNODC] have no access.”
Of significant concern is the fact that rapid expansion of other CDTDCs is being based on
the Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center model and as one UNODC official commented:
“Somsagna and Pakse compulsory drug treatment centers with all their defects and
limitations are far ahead of the rest of the country in trained staff and treatment.
Somsagna is viewed as a model for other centers, but the legitimate criticisms of
274
various stakeholders already indicates that it is at best, a deeply-flawed model.”
Michael Hahn, also said:

“Our government counterparts in [Laos] are well aware of the limitations of
the centers, but are not aware at this stage of any real alternatives. What we
need are well thought out, evidence-based, culturally relevant alternatives to the
centers. If we can all work at providing these options, I am sure the [government
of Laos] will consider community-based alternatives to these drug treatment
centers. UNAIDS in Laos remains concerned by the operation of these centers
both from the lack of any evidence-based drug treatment perspective and
because of the implications for HIV transmission of keeping large numbers of
275
people in a closed space, particularly since there are no condoms available.”
The LCDC and the government of Laos in general are increasingly aware of the need for
a more effective approach and have indicated that they would like to develop different strategies
that would better rehabilitate and reintegrate drug users. In fact the Laos government has stopped
276
requesting donor money to build more centers as many of the centers built are empty. As in
Thailand and Cambodia though, a punitive approach to detaining alleged drug users continues to
thwart effective approaches.
Figure 9. Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center
Source: Somsagna staff member.
54 LAOS
Annex 1: An Overview of
Methamphetamine Abuse and
Treatment in the International
Literature
Trends in Methamphetamine Abuse
Methamphetamine abuse remains a significant problem worldwide. The 2008 World Drug Report
by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated that 24.7 million persons
277
currently abuse amphetamine-type stimulants. The 2009 World Drug Report estimated that
somewhere between 16 million and 51 million people aged between 15 and 64 used some form
278
of amphetamine-type stimulant in 2007. Methamphetamine constitutes the most frequently
279
abused amphetamine-type stimulant, accounting for approximately 65 percent of the total or
280
nearly 16 million individuals, which equals or exceeds the number using cocaine or opiates.
Southeast and East Asia currently represent the epicenter for methamphetamine production, traf-
ficking, and consumption.
The methamphetamine epidemic began in the late 1990s and peaked in 2000–2001. Recent
evidence suggests increases in trafficking and use in the Mekong Region, along with increases in
281
large-scale production in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and elsewhere.
Data collected by the Drug Abuse Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (DAINAP)
reveals methamphetamine as among the top three most common drugs of abuse in 12 of 13
countries surveyed, while six (including Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia) ranked methamphet-
282
amine as the leading drug of abuse. While some Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand,
have reported stabilization or a decrease in rates of methamphetamine consumption, the overall
prevalence is among the highest in the region. There has also been an increase in the use of the
crystalline form of methamphetamine known as “ice.” Laos and Cambodia have reported increases
in overall consumption of methamphetamine as well as a small but increasing prevalence of the
283
use of ice.
55
Implications of Methamphetamine Use on Individual
Health and Social Outcomes
Methamphetamine is easily synthesized, has high central nervous system penetration due to its
lipophilic chemical structure, and produces both an immediate and lasting euphoric high, owing
to its relatively long half-life. Such factors combine to make methamphetamine widely available,
abused, and highly addictive. Methamphetamine abuse has short- and long-term health conse-
quences, some of which are unique to methamphetamine compared with other amphetamine-type
stimulants, such as cocaine, and other commonly abused drugs in the region, such as opiates.
Research suggests that methamphetamine users are more likely than abusers of other substances
284, 285
to encounter law enforcement officers. Indeed, more than 75 percent of drug-related arrests
286
in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos involved methamphetamine. From a public health perspective,
the high coincidence of methamphetamine abuse and law enforcement involvement necessitates
a firm understanding of the health effects of methamphetamine abuse, their acute management,
and long-term treatment by health providers, community-based organizations working with meth-
amphetamine users, and law enforcement officials.
Short-term Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse

Research in animal models suggests that the biochemical target of methamphetamine is presyn-
287
aptic dopaminergic transporters in the brain. Amphetamine-type stimulants promote increased
release, and to a lesser extent, decreased reuptake of dopamine as well as other neurotransmit-
288
ters. The overall effect is a marked sympathetic (“fight or flight”) response with increases in
heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, papillary dilation, and excessive sweating. In addi-
tion to physiologic changes, methamphetamine-induced release of neurotransmitters produces
euphoria, which, unlike the shorter-lasting high of cocaine, can persist from eight to 12 hours
and is accompanied by feelings of increased energy, curiosity, and interest in the surrounding
289
environment; increased sexuality and desire; heightened attentiveness; and decreased anxiety.
Methamphetamine tolerance develops gradually through various hypothesized neuro-
290 291
toxic and immunologic mechanisms that deplete neurotransmitters and shorten the dura-
tion of euphoric effects. During this period users typically engage in progressive dose-escalation,
switch to more rapid routes of administration (e.g. inhalation or intravenous) and begin binging,
characterized by repeated administration in response to drastic changes in mood (“binge-crash”
292
cycle) that can last up to several days. Dose-escalation has important medical consequences, as
most acute complications of methamphetamine abuse are dose-dependent and the transition to
injectable forms of methamphetamine increases the risk of blood-borne infections such as HIV,
hepatitis C, and sepsis.
Although the physiologic effects of methamphetamine intoxication can produce marked
cardiovascular, neurological, and metabolic effects, potentially causing myocardial infarction, cere-
56 ANNEXES
bral hemorrhage, aortic dissection, arrhythmias, seizures, and hyperthermia, the incidence of
293
such complications is rare and lower relative to those caused by cocaine use. Studies in US and
Australian emergency departments indicate methamphetamine users are more likely to present
with psychological disturbances including agitated delirium or acute psychosis, suicidal ideation,
294, 295, 296
and injury or assault related to methamphetamine use. In addition, a majority of cases
were deemed to be of high acuity and one-third required sedation, but only a small proportion
required admission for severe psychiatric or medical problems and overnight observation/sedation
297
was sufficient for an additional one-third of patients studied.
Methamphetamine-induced acute psychosis is a recognized complication of methamphet-
amine intoxication. While research involving prisoners and psychiatric inpatients reveals preva-
298, 299
lence rates of psychotic symptoms to be between 20 to 30 percent studies in outpatient
300
and emergency room populations suggest rates closer to 12 to 13 percent. One study found
pre-existing psychiatric comorbidities to be 10 times that of the general population, but metham-
phetamine users remained three times more likely to experience psychotic episodes after adjusting
for pre-existing illness. Furthermore, methamphetamine users are much more likely to experience
301
psychotic symptoms relative to cocaine users and one-quarter of those with such symptoms also
302
exhibit violent or hostile behaviors. Importantly, research not only indicates low prevalence
of acute psychosis in community settings, but also that occurrence of such symptoms is associ-
ated primarily with heavy or chronic methamphetamine use and generally resolves spontaneously
303
within hours or days.
Long-term Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse

In addition to physical changes including a marked aging effect, weight-loss, and severe tooth
decay (“meth mouth”), chronic methamphetamine abuse can lead to increased risk of psychiatric
304, 305
illness and neurocognitive deficits. Recent research in animal models and methamphetamine
patients has focused on biochemical changes observed in the brain, particularly dopamine deple-
tion associated with chronic use. Studies have linked reductions in dopamine transporters with
306
decreased performance in tests of cognitive and motor function. Functional imaging studies
in the brains of former methamphetamine users demonstrate regrowth of these transporters;
however, despite one to three years of abstinence, testing revealed persistent psychomotor impair-
307
ments. Other studies have shown prolonged deficits among abstaining methamphetamine users
with respect to social-cognitive functioning including depression, motivation, aggression, social
308, 309
isolation, and decreased prospective memory formation. The presence of such long-term
deficits not only highlights the importance of early intervention with new methamphetamine
users but also has implications for rehabilitative services designed for those suffering from meth-
amphetamine dependence.
Methamphetamine Withdrawal Syndrome
Much of what is known about withdrawal from methamphetamine is based on research involving
patients recovering from cocaine addiction. Only a few prospective studies specific to methamphet-
amine withdrawal have been performed to-date. However, evidence suggests methamphetamine
withdrawal differs from cocaine withdrawal in that the anergia and dysphoria is more severe.
Unlike the marked physical symptoms associated with alcohol or opiate withdrawal, metham-
phetamine withdrawal syndrome is largely psychological, consisting of dysphoria, irritability, poor
310
concentration, and sleep disturbance. The most comprehensive study of the natural history
of methamphetamine withdrawal found a biphasic course: severe depressive symptoms peaked
within the first 24 hours of abstinence and returned to control levels by day seven; less severe
symptoms of hypersomnolence, hyperphagia, anxiety, irritability, agitation, psychomotor retarda-
tion, poor concentration, tension, vivid dreams, and drug craving persisted throughout the sec-
311 312
ond and third weeks of abstinence. Although limited, relevant regional research describes a
relatively mild withdrawal syndrome, consisting primarily of depressive psychological symptoms,
with the most severe symptoms occurring during the first hours of abstinence and largely resolv-
ing within one week.
Treatment of Methamphetamine Dependence

Similar to studies of methamphetamine withdrawal syndrome, little randomized, controlled data
exists evaluating the various treatment approaches to methamphetamine dependence. The most
widely studied are cognitive-behavioral therapy, contingency management or contracting, multifac-
eted programs such as the Matrix Model, case management, Stepped-Approach, and group-tailored
313, 314, 315, 316, 317
strategies. Emerging research seeks to develop pharmacologic interventions to replace
or supplement psychological-behavioral treatment strategies. Several medications including anti-
depressants and stimulants have been tested in clinical trials with the goals of decreasing crav-
ings, improving treatment retention rates, substituting amphetamine, and increasing abstinence.
Findings are preliminary, but bupropion, mirtazapine, baclofen, topiramate, and D-amphetamine
318, 319, 320, 321
have shown some benefit in augmenting psychosocial outpatient therapy.
58 ANNEXES
Annex 2: A Peer-based Network
Trial with Methamphetamine
Users in Chiang Mai, Northern
Thailand
A Chiang Mai University and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health collaborative National
Institute on Drug Abuse research project explored methods of reducing harm associated with
322
methamphetamine use. The phase III randomized control trial was designed to assess the effi-
cacy of a network-orientated peer intervention for methamphetamine use reduction and STI/HIV
prevention among young methamphetamine users and their drug-using and sexual networks.
The intervention arm of the trial received risk reduction counseling plus seven two-hour network-
orientated peer-educator sessions and a booster session. The control arm received risk reduction
counseling and seven two-hour group sessions on life-skills training.
While the study did not show a significant difference between the control and interven-
tion arms of the study, participants in both arms of the study received information about the
physiological and psychological effects of methamphetamine; harm reduction strategies; and STI
information, testing, and treatment services. Both arms showed a significant reduction in meth-
323
amphetamine use (Figure 1) and an increase in condom use (Figure 11) over time.
Outreach
The outreach team was composed of young adults who were well versed in community issues,
understood the culture of methamphetamine use, and could interact with both community lead-
ers and methamphetamine users alike. The outreach team was well funded, supportive, friendly,
nonjudgmental, peer orientated, adaptable, and able to engage and interact with networks of
methamphetamine users around the city.
59
Service Provision
Both the intervention and control arms of the trial received equal access to services tailored to
methamphetamine users. Both the intervention and control incorporated many aspects of harm
reduction and were directly designed to address issues of harm associated with methamphetamine
use, and were tailored toward issues that methamphetamine users themselves spoke of during the
ethnographic phase. Aspects of service provision that both aimed to reduce harm associated with
methamphetamine use and provide primary health care services included:
• Information regarding the pharmacological and physiological effects of methamphet-

amine use;
• Methods to assist in the reduction of methamphetamine use and in reducing risk

behaviors associated with its use;
• In-depth information about prevention, treatment, and care of HIV/AIDS and other
common STIs;
• Free STI testing through urine and vaginal sample analysis for trichomoniasis, gonor-
rhea, and chlamydia, and free treatment for positive STI cases; and
• Free and optional voluntary counseling and testing for HIV.
Community Integration and Stigma Reduction

The study worked with methamphetamine users and community leadership structures to reduce
aspects of stigma and discrimination. The team facilitated sessions between methamphetamine
users and the community and discussed the feasibility of conducting small community projects
that would be undertaken by people in the study. Such projects were often simple but symbolic in
supporting community strength and unity; for example, the young users would help garden the
local grounds of the temple.
Partnerships with Law Enforcement

The study fostered cooperation with local law enforcement agencies. The relationship was carefully
built by senior members of the research team and included regular discussions about the purpose
and progress of the study and an in-principle agreement that no study participants would face
interactions with law enforcement as a direct result of participating in the study. This included the
“safe house” intervention site being given a permission to run activities with methamphetamine
users without any interference from police. Furthermore, senior police were invited to community
advisory board meetings. A strong partnership between the police and the research team was a
feature of the study.
60 ANNEXES
Figure 10. Mean proportion using methamphetamine at baseline and at 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month
follow-ups by intervention assignment. Brackets at each time point show 95% confidence
intervals for the mean.
Control
0.9
Intervention
0.8
Proportion MA Use
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0 3 6 9 12
Study Visit (Months)
Figure 11. Mean proportion always using condoms at baseline and at 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month
follow-ups by intervention assignment. Brackets at each time point show 95% confidence
intervals for the mean.
0.5
Proportion Always Condom Use
0.4
0.3
Control
Intervention
0.2
0 3 6 9 12
Study Visit (Months)
Annex 3: UN Country Team
Position on Drug Dependence
Treatment and Support to the
Royal Government of Cambodia
63
64 ANNEXES
Notes
1. In Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos there exist a wide variety of terms and definitions that describe locations
where the state detains drug users in the name of drug treatment: military boot-camps, detoxification
centers, treatment and rehabilitation centers, drug treatment detention centers, detention centers for the
treatment and rehabilitation of drug users. The reality, however, is that people are being detained against
their will in places where they do not receive effective evidence-based drug treatment. Considering the
wide variety of terms used to describe these centers, the authors have settled on the term compulsory drug
treatment/detention centers, hereafter “CDTDCs.”
2. In the Thai camps, detainees sleep in one room, which is locked at night and sleeps up to 100 males side
by side.
3. Several visits by this author and multiple other independent observers confirm these conditions are the
norm in Cambodia and Laos.
4. Conversation between WHO staff and a senior minister in the Ministry of Health, Cambodian Government,
August 2008. Conversation relayed by personal communication between WHO technical advisor on drug
use and HIV and the author. Notes on file with the author.
5. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. UN General Assembly, 1966.
6. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. UN General Assembly, 1966.
7. The United Nations. (1990). Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners. (Principle 9).
8. See Annexes 1 and 2 of this report for a detailed review of the literature concerning appropriate
methamphetamine withdrawal, treatment, and harm reduction.
9. The International Covenant Civil and Political Rights. UN General Assembly, 1966.
10. United Nations. (1994). General Comment 8. Article 9, Sixteenth session, 1982. In: United Nations,
Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by the Human Rights Treaty
Bodies, UN Doc. HRI/GEN/Rev.1(8) New York: United Nations.
11. Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. (2009). Compulsory Drug Treatment in Thailand: Observations on
the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act B.E. 2542 (2002). Toronto: Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.
Retrieved on November 10, 2009, from www.aidslaw.ca/drugpolicy.
12. McGregor, C, Srisurapanont, M., et al. (2005). The nature, time course and severity of methamphetamine
withdrawal. Addiction, 100(9): 1320–9.
13. Lewis, D.R. (2003). The Long Trip Down the Mountain: Social and Economic Impacts of Illicit Drugs in
Thailand. Bangkok: UNODC, Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific.
14. Chouvy, P-A. (2002). YAA BAA: Production, Traffic and Consumption of Methamphetamine in Mainland
Southeast Asia. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
15. UNODC. (2007). Patterns and Trends in ATS and Other Drugs of Abuse in East Asia and the Pacific. UNODC
Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific.
67
16. Treerat, N., Wannathepsakul, N and Lewis, D. (2000). Global Study on Illegal Drugs: the case of Bangkok,
Thailand. Bangkok, United Nations Drug Control Program.
17. Celentano, D., Sirirojn, M., et al. (2008). Sexually transmitted infections and sexual and substance use
correlates among young adults in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 35(4): 400–405.
18. Celentano, D., Arramrattana, A., et al. (2008). Associations of substance abuse and sexual risk with self-
reported depressive symptoms in young adults in northern Thailand. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 2(2):
66–73.
19. Farrel, M., Marsden, J., et al. (2002). Methamphetamine: Drug use and psychoses become a major health
problem in the Asia Pacific region. Journal of Addiction, 97(7): 771–772.
20. Thomson, N., Sutcliffe, C., et al. (2009). Correlates of incarceration among young methamphetamine
users in Chiang Mai, Thailand. American Journal of Public Health, 99(7): 1232–1238.
21. Thomson, N. (2009).Implications and responses of methamphetamine use in Southeast Asia. Presented
at the International Harm Reduction Association’s 17th International Conference.
22. “Yaba” literally means “crazy drug” in Thai language. It has been changed from its original form “yama”
which meant “drug of horse” referring to the perception of strength that some users describe when taking
it. When this report refers to methamphetamine it should be assumed that it is primarily referring to the
tablet form, “yaba” or “yama.” “Ice” refers to crystal methamphetamine.
23. Treerat, N., Wannathepsakul, N and Lewis, D. (2000). Global Study on Illegal Drugs: the case of Bangkok,
Thailand. Bangkok, United Nations Drug Control Program.
24. Razak, M.H., Jittiwuntikarn, J. et al. (2003). HIV prevalence and risks among injection and noninjection
drug users in northern Thailand: Need for comprehensive HIV programs. Journal of Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndromes, 33(2): 259–66.
25. Voice of America News, “Major Drug Discoveries Found in Cambodia” September, 25, 2007. Retrieved on
August 10, 2008 from http://www.oudam.com/cambodia/major-drug-discoveries-found-in-cambodia.
html.
26. New drug factories in Laos. (July 17, 2001). Irrawady News.
27. UNODC. (2007). Patterns and Trends in ATS and Other Drugs of Abuse in East Asia and the Pacific 2006.
UNODC Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific.
28. Puthaviriyakorn, V., Siriviriyasomboon, N., et al. (2002). Identification of impurities and statistical
classification of methamphetamine tablets (Ya-Ba) seized in Thailand. Forensic Science International, 126(2):
105–113.
30. Hart, L., Ward, S., et al. (2001). Methamphetamine self administration by humans. Psychopharmacology
(Berl), 157(1): 75–81.
31. Barr, M., Pabenka, J., et al. (2006). The need for speed: an update on methamphetamine addiction. Journal
of Neuroscience, 31(5): 301–313.
32. Hall, W., Hando, J., et al. (1996). Psychological morbidity and route of administration among
amphetamine users in Sydney, Australia. Addiction, 91(1): 81–87.
33. The Thai Academic Committee of Substance Use is made up of lead drug researchers from four
universities across Thailand; Chiang Mai University, Prince of Songkla, Chulalungkorn, and Khon Kaen
University. The committee organizes annual conferences and conducts research on drug trends and
implications for the health and security communities of Thailand.
34. Academic Committee on Substance Use. (2003). Status of Substance Abuse: National Household Survey.
Bangkok: Published by the Academic Committee on Substance Use 2004.
35. Devaney, M.L., Reid, G., et al. (2007). Prevalence of illicit drug use in Asia and the Pacific. Drug Alcohol
Review, 26(1): 97–102.
36. Note from the Australian/Japanese chair of Southeast Asia Mini-Dublin Group to the Dublin Group at the
Council of the European Union. Regional Report on Southeast Asia and China. Document Number:10988/88
dated June 20, 2008. Retrieved on October 10, 2009 from http://registar.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/
st10988.en08.pdf.
68 NOTES
37. UNODC. (2008). Opium Poppy Cultivation in South East Asia: Laos, Myanmar, Thailand. UNODC Crop
Monitoring program. Page 29. Retrieved on March 25, 2009 from http://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-
monitoring/East_Asia_Opium_report_2008.pdf.
38. Kuratanavej, S. (2001). Crime Prevention: Current Issues in Correctional Treatment and Effective
Countermeasures. Tokyo: United Nations Asia and the Far East Institute. Resource Material Series No. 57.
39. Human Rights Watch. (2004). Thailand. Not Enough Graves: The War on Drugs, HIV/AIDS, and Violations
of Human Rights. Vol 16, 8(C). Retrieved on December 14, 2006 from http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/
thailand0704/thailand0704.pdf.
40. Thomson, N., Sutcliffe, C., et al. (2009). Correlates of incarceration amongst methamphetamine users in
northern Thailand. American Journal of Public Health, 99(7): 1232–1238.
United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific.
42. UNODC. (2008). Amphetamines and Ecstasy—2008 Global ATS Assessment. Retrieved on Available May 12,
2009 from http://www.apaic.org/PROJECT/doc/Global-ATS-Assessment-2008.pdf.
43. Department of Corrections Thailand. (2008). Retrieved on October 5, 2009 from http://www.correct.go.th/
eng/Stat/statistic.htm#_Number_of_Prisoners_during%2010%20years.
45. Celentano, D., Sirirojn, M., et al. (2008). Sexually transmitted infections and sexual and substance use
correlates among young adults in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 35(4): 400–405.
46. Thomson, N., Sutcliffe, C., et al. (2009). Correlates of incarceration amongst methamphetamine users in
northern Thailand. American Journal of Public Health, 99(7): 1232–1238.
47. Thomson, N. (2009). Methamphetamine use in South East Asia. Presented at the International Harm
Reduction Association’s 20th International Conference.
48. Ibid.
49. WHO. (1997). Amphetamine-like Stimulants: A Report from the WHO Meeting on Amphetamines, MDMA
and other Psychostimulants. Geneva: Substance Abuse Department, WHO.
50. Winstock, A. (2006). Amphetamines: Dependence, Depression, Withdrawal and Psychosis. Training kit
developed for Australian General Practice Network.
51. Ibid.
52. Watson, R., Hartmann, E., et al. (1972). Amphetamine withdrawal: Affective state, sleep patterns and
MHPG excretion. American Journal of Psychiatry, 129(3): 263–269.
53. WHO. (1997). Amphetamine-like Stimulants: A Report from the WHO Meeting on Amphetamines, MDMA
and other Psychostimulants. Geneva: Substance Abuse Department, WHO.
54. Baker, A., Lee, N., et al. (2004). Models of Intervention and Care for Psychostimulant Users, 2nd Edition.
National Drug Strategy. Monograph Series No. 51. Canberra: Australian Government Department of
Health and Ageing.
55. Kuratanavej, S. (2005). Treatment and rehabilitation initiatives in Asian cities. In paper presentation at the
2nd Asian Cities Against Drugs (ASCAD) Conference.
56. UNODC. (2009). Drug use, prisons and compulsory drug treatment centers. In presentation at the Thai
Satellite Meeting, April 19, 2009, prior to the 20th International Harm Reduction Conference.
57. Information provided by the WHO office in Cambodia, July 2008. Notes on file with the author. There
is some confusion about the number of CDTDCs in Cambodia, but it is agreed that there is somewhere
between 11 and 14 centers.
58. Information relating to the CDTDCs in Laos has been collected and collated in the research for this report.
Some claim that there are nine CDTDCs in Laos, but the location of a ninth center could not be verified in
the research for this report.
59. In Laos, almost 100 percent of drug arrests are for methamphetamine, according to the UNODC.
In Cambodia, WHO notes that 95 percent of people in the CDTDCs are methamphetamine users. In
Thailand, the director of the Department of Probation does not believe that there are many heroin injectors
in the CDTDCs. In addition, there are no opiate withdrawal programs or facilities in the settings described
in this paper.
60. The Open Society Institute, Public Health Program. (2009). Human Rights Abuses in the Name of
Drug Treatment: Reports from the Field. Retrieved on September 10, 2009 from http://www.soros.
org/initiatives/health/focus/ihrd/articles_publications/publications/treatmentabuse_20090318/
treatmentabuse_20090309.pdf. Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. (2009). Compulsory Drug Treatment
in Thailand: Observations on the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act B.E. 2542 (2002). Toronto: Canadian
HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Retrieved on November 10, 2009 from www.aidslaw.ca/drugpolicy. WHO/
Western Pacific Region report (2009). “Assessment of compulsory treatmemt of people who use drugs
in Cambodia, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Application of selected human rights principals”. Available
at http://www.wpro.who.int/publications/PUB_9789290614173.htm. Retrieved on December 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch (2010). Skin on the Cable: the Illegal Arrest, Arbitrary Detention and Torture of People
Who Use Drugs in Cambodia. New York: Human Rights Watch.
61. UNODC & WHO. (2008). Discussion Paper. Principles of Drug Dependent Treatment. Retrieved on January
25, 2009 from www.unodc.org/.../drug-treatment/unodc-who-Principle-of-Drug-Dependence-Treatment-
March08.pdf.
62. Ibid.
63. Nowak, M. (2009). Report for the Human Rights Council, Seventh Session, Agenda item 3: Promotion and
Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including the Right to
Development. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment. p. 16–24. Available from http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/101/61/
PDF/G0810161.pdf?OpenElement.
64. See “International Support for Harm Reduction; An overview of multi-lateral endorsement of harm
reduction policy and practice” Prepared by the International Harm Reduction Association and Human
Rights Watch. 19th January 2009. Available from www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/19/international-support-
harm-reduction.
65. The Open Society Institute, Public Health Program. (2009). Human Rights Abuses in the Name of
Drug Treatment: Reports from the Field. Retrieved on September 10, 2009 from http://www.soros.
org/initiatives/health/focus/ihrd/articles_publications/publications/treatmentabuse_20090318/
treatmentabuse_20090309.pdf. Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. (2009). Compulsory Drug Treatment
in Thailand: Observations on the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act B.E. 2542 (2002). Toronto: Canadian
HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Retrieved on November 10, 2009 from www.aidslaw.ca/drugpolicy. WHO/
Western Pacific Region report (2009). “Assessment of compulsory treatmemt of people who use drugs
in Cambodia, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Application of selected human rights principals”. Available
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71. Wilson, D., Ford, N., et al. (2007). HIV prevention, care and treatment in two prisons in Thailand. Plos
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72. Thomson, N., Sutcliffe, C., et al. (2008). Penile modification in young Thai men: Risk environments,
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70 NOTES
73. Wilson, D., Ford, N., et al. (2007). HIV prevention, care and treatment in two prisons in Thailand. Plos
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74. Devaney, M.L., Reid, G., et al. (2007). Prevalence of illicit drug use in Asia and the Pacific. Drug and Alcohol
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75. ACCORD. (2006). Consolidated Report: ACCORD in 2005. Bangkok: UNODC.
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77. See Narcotics Control Act, B.E. 2519 (1976).
78. Kuratanavej, S. (2001). Crime Prevention: Current Issues in Correctional Treatment and Effective
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80. US Department of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (2009). Background Note: Thailand.
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81. US Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Southeast Asia
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82. ONCB. International Cooperation, Bilateral Mechanisms. Retrieved on September 12, 2009 from http://
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83. Kalish, M.L., Baldwin, A., et al. (1995). The evolving molecular epidemiology of HIV-envelope subtypes in
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84. Verachai, V., Phutiprawan, T., et al. (2005). HIV infection among substance abusers in Thanyarak Institute
on Drug Abuse, Thailand, 1987–2002. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand, 88(1): 76–79.
85. Academic Committee on Substance Use. (2003). Status of Substance Abuse: National Household Survey.
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86. Beyrer, C., Razak, M.H., et al. (2004). Methamphetamine users in northern Thailand: Changing
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87. Vongsheree, S., Sri-Ngam, P., et al. (2001). High HIV-prevalence among methamphetamine users in
central Thailand, 1999–2000. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand, 84(9): 1263–1267.
88. Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. (2009). Compulsory Drug Treatment in Thailand: Observations on the
Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act B.E. 2542 (2002). Toronto: Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Retrieved
on November 10, 2009 from www.aidslaw.ca/drugpolicy.
89. Personal communication with the Director-General of the Department of Probation, August 2008. Notes
on file with the author.
90. Interview with the Deputy-Director General of the Department of Probation, June 2009. Notes on file with
the author.
91. Personal communication with member of the NRAC in Rajburi Hospital, August 2008. Notes on file with
the author.
93. Interview with Deputy Secretary General of Department of Probation, July 2008. Notes on file with the
author.
on November 10th, 2009 from www.aidslaw.ca/drugpolicy.
95. Ibid.
96. Ibid.
97. Interview with 24-year-old male from Chiang Mai. July 2008. Notes on file with the author.
98. Personal communication with the NRAC in Rajburi Hospital, August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
100. Royal Thai Airforce. (2009). Youth rehabilitation center. In presentation to international delegates from the
20th International Harm Reduction Conference, 2009.
101. Personal communication with the Deputy-Director General of the Department of Probation, June 2009.
Notes on file with the author.
102. The author conducted several interviews and had many conversations with various NRAC members
in Rajburi, Sakraew, Udon Thanni, and Songkla between July 2008 and June 2009. Notes from these
interviews and conversations on file with the author.
103. Personal communication with chief psychiatrist at Rajburi Hospital in Rajburi Province, July 2008. Notes
104. Thomson, N., Sutcliffe, C., et al. (2009). Correlates of incarceration among young methamphetamine
users in Chiang Mai, Thailand. American Journal of Public Health, 99(7), 1232–1238.
105. Personal communication with the Director-General of the Department of Probation, June 2008. Notes on
file with the author.
106. Interview with recently released male detainee from Chiang Dao military camp, August 2008. Notes on file
with the author.
107. Information in PowerPoint presentation given to international visitors to the Royal Thai Airforce CDTDC by
staff from the CDTDC, April 2009. Notes on file with the author.
108. At the end of 2008, there were 84 CDTDCs. Of these, 31 were run by the Royal Thai Army, 12 by the Royal
Thai Airforce, four by the Royal Thai Navy, and three by the Royal Thai Armed Forces Supreme Command.
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. (2009). Compulsory Drug Treatment in Thailand: Observations on the
109. Personal communication with the Director of the police-run CDTDC in Udon Thani, July 2008. Notes on
110. UNODC & WHO. (2008). Discussion Paper: Principles of Drug Dependent Treatment. Retrieved on January
25, 2009 from www.unodc.org/.../drug-treatment/unodc-who-Principle-of-Drug-Dependence-Treatment-
March08.pdf.
111. Interview with Dr. Apichai Mongkol, the Deputy Secretary General of the Department of Mental Health
within the Ministry of Public Health Thailand, June 2008. Notes on file with the author.
112. Canadian HIV/AIDS legal Network. (2009). Compulsory Drug Treatment in Thailand: Observations on the
113. Personal communication with a senior official from the Department of Probation, June 2009. Notes on file
with the author.
114. Personal communication with the staff member nominally in charge of CDTDC in Udon Thani, September
2008. Notes on file with the author.
115. Ibid.
116. Personal communication between author and a member of Thailand’s Academic Committee on Substance
Use. January, 2010.
117. Interview with 25-year-old male, released from a camp in Mae Taeng, northern Thailand, August 2008.
118. Personal communication with an unnamed commander of the Royal Thai Airforce working at Wing 41
CDTDC for females in Chiang Mai, June 2009. Notes on file with the author.
119. Thomson N., Sutcliffe C., et al. (2009). Correlates of incarceration among young methamphetamine users
in Chiang Mai, Thailand. American Journal of Public Health, 99(7), 1232–1238.
72 NOTES
120. UNODC. (2006). HIV/AIDS and Custodial Settings in Southeast Asia: An Exploratory Review into the Issues of
HIV/AIDS in Custodial Settings in Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. Bangkok: UNODC
Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act B.E. (2002). Toronto: Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Retrieved on
November 10th from www.aidslaw.ca/drugpolicy.
122. Interview with Mr. Wanchai Roujanavong, then Director General of the Thailand Department of Probation,
August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
123. Latest drugs war to focus on prevention. (2009, March 19). Bangkok Post.
124. Rehab or punishment? Drug addicts should be treated as patients and not as prisoners, but just how
successful is the treatment they receive from authorities? (2010, March 7). Bangkok Post.
125. Oppenheimer, E. (1995). Drug Abuse in Cambodia. A Rapid Assessment of Drug Abuse and Concomitant HIV
Risk Behaviour. Phnom Penh: World Bank.
126. International Labour Organisation—IPEC Cambodia. (2001). An Overview of Child Labour in Illicit Drug
Abuse and Trafficking in Cambodia. Phnom Penh: ILO.
127. US Department of State. (1996). International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Retrieved on September
20, 2009 from http://www.disam.dsca.mil/pubs/INDEXES/Vol%2018_3/Int’l%20Narc%20Control%20
Strategy%20Rpt%201996.pdf.
128. Letter dated 3rd April 1996 from the Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the United Nations
addressed to the Secretary-General. Retrieved on April 30, 2009 from http://www.un.org/documents/ga/
docs/51/pleanary/a51-93.htm.
129. International Labour Organisation—IPEC Cambodia. (2001). An Overview of Child Labour in Illicit Drug
Abuse and Trafficking in Cambodia. Phnom Penh: ILO.
130. UNODC. (2002). Summary Report of the Illicit Drug Situation in Cambodia 2002. Bangkok: UNODC
Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific.
131. US Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. (2004).
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 2003. Washington, DC: US Department of State.
132. Yama and yaba are used interchangeably in the Cambodian literature on the subject.
133. UNODC. (2002). Summary Report of the Illicit Drug Situation in Cambodia, 2002. Bangkok: UNODC
Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific. p. 10.
134. National Authority for Combating Drugs (2008). Report on Illicit Drug Data and Routine Surveillance Systems
in Cambodia, 2007. Phnom Penh: NACD.
Bangkok: UNODC Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific.
136. National Authority for Combating Drugs. (2008). Report on Illicit Drug Data and Routine Surveillance
Systems in Cambodia. Phnom Penh: NACD. p. 14.
137. Ibid., p. 19.
138. Ibid., p. 19.
139. Sothy, N, Vonthanak, S., et al. (2008). ATS use and HIV infection amongst young women in the sex and
entertainment industry in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In Poster presentation from the International AIDS
Conference in Mexico.
140. National Authority for Combating Drugs. (2008). Report on Illicit Drug Data and Routine Surveillance
Systems in Cambodia. Phnom Penh: NACD.
141. Ibid.
142. Mequita, F., Jacka, D., et al. (2008). Accelerating harm reduction interventions to confront the HIV
epidemic in the western pacific and Asia: The role of WHO (WPRO). International Harm Reduction Journal,
5:26.
143. Personal communication with outreach team Friends International, March 2009. Notes on file with the
author.
144. NCHADS, NACD, Korsang, Friends International, WHO, & the Burnet Institute. (2009). Amphetamine
type stimulants in Cambodia. Presented at the International Harm Reduction Association’s 19th
International Conference.
145. Ibid.
146. There is some confusion about the number of CDTDCs in Cambodia, but it is agreed that there is
somewhere between 11 and 14 centers.
147. Interpretation by the UN Human Rights Committee on Article 9.1 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights. United Nations (1994) General Comment 8, Article 9, sixteenth session, 1982. In:
United Nations Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human
Rights Treaty Bodies, UN Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1(8) New York: United Nations.
148. Interview with a 27-year-old female, August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
149. Open Society Institute. (2009). At What Cost? HIV and Human Rights Consequences of the Global “War on
Drugs”. New York: OSI. p. 35.
150. Ibid.
151. Cambodian authorities keen on ‘clean’ streets during elections. (2008, July 2). Australian Broadcasting
Channel. Interview transcript retrieved on June 4, 2009 from http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/
programguide/stories/200807/s2293179.htm.
152. The Law on the Control of Drugs (Royal Code NS/RKM/0505/014, amended 9th May 2005).
153. WHO. (2008). Unpublished Report. Rapid Assessment of Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers in Cambodia
2007. Draft Version 5. Phnom Penh: WHO.
154. Personal email communication with a WHO technical advisor, Cambodia, October 2009. Email on file with
the author.
155. WHO, Western Pacific Region. (2009). Assessment of Compulsory Treatment of People Who Use Drugs in
Cambodia, China, Malaysia and Vietnam: An Application of Selected Human Rights Principles. Manila: WHO,
WPRO.
156. Central Intelligence Agency (2009). The World Factbook. Retrieved on December 17, 2009 from https://
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html.
157. Interview with an assistant to the Secretary General of NACD, August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
158. WHO. (2008). Unpublished Report. Rapid Assessment of Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers in Cambodia
2007. Draft Version 5. Phnom Penh: WHO.
159. Personal communication with WHO country office in Cambodia, July 2008. Notes on file with the author.
160. Interview with former detainee, 22-year-old male. August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
161. Ibid.
162. Interview with former detainee, 19-year-old male, August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
165. Interview with former detainee, 22-year-old male. August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
166. See article 37 (c) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that every child deprived of
liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best interest not to be.
167. NACD. (2007). Unpublished report. Routine Analysis of Treatment Data Provided by Treatment Center Run by
Government, 4th Quarterly report of 2007. Report on file with the author.
168. Internal report written for IOM by Dr. Patrick Duigan, July 2008. Report on file with the author.
169. Interview with Dr. Duigan in reference to his internal report for IOM, August, 2008. Notes on file with the
author.
170. UNAIDS. (1997). Prisons and AIDS, UNAIDS Technical Update. Retrieved on September 30, 2009 from
http://www.unodc.org/documents/hiv-aids/UNAIDS%20prison%20and%20AIDS.pdf.
74 NOTES
172. Interview with 29-year-old male who had been held in Prey Sar prison, frequently used as a place of
detention for drug users, August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
173. Interview with 29-year-old female from Prey Spue detention center, frequently used as a place of detention
for drug users, August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
174. Interview with 18-year-old female who did not know where she had been detained but thought it was
somewhere in Takeo Province, August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
175. Thomson, N., Sutcliffe, C., et al. (2008). Penile modification in young Thai men: Risk environments,
procedures and widespread implications for HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Journal of Sexually
Transmitted Infections, 84: 195–197.
176. Interview with 22-year-old male recently released from the Oksas Knyom detoxification center, August
2008. Transcription on file with the author.
177. Interview with 25-year-old male recently released from Oksas Knyom detoxification center after three
months; at the time of interview was still using methamphetamine, August 2008. Transcription on file with
the author.
178. Legrand, J., Sanchez, A., et al. (2008). Modeling the impact of tuberculosis control strategies in highly
endemic overcrowded prisons. Plos 1, 7;3(5): e2100.
179. Personal communication with the WHO office, Cambodia, October 2009. Notes on file with the author.
180. Interview with an assistant to the Secretary General of the NACD, August, 2008. Notes on file with the
author.
182. Personal communication with a staff member in Banteay Meanchey Ministry of Social Affairs Center, July
183. Personal communication with the WHO Cambodia office, June 2009. Notes on file with the author.
184. Ibid.
185. Hun, S. (2006). Circular on the Implementation of Education, Treatment and Rehabilitation Measures for Drug
Addicts, No. 03 SR. Circular on file with the author.
186. Ibid.
187. WHO, Cambodia office. (2009). Compulsory Drug Detention Centers in Cambodia: Summary Briefing Paper.
Paper on file with the author. There is some confusion about the number of CDTDCs in Cambodia, but it is
agreed that there is somewhere between 11 and 14 centers.
188. Interview with Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior, Prum Sokha, September 2008, Phnom Penh.
Interview notes on file with the author.
189. Ibid.
190. Meetings and events that are relevant to these insights have been summarized and communicated though
personal email from WHO Cambodia office to the author. Notes on file with the author.
191. Community or compulsory? Drug centers at a crossroads. (2010, March 4). The Cambodia Daily.
192. Letter from Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, to Rebecca Schleifer, Advocacy Director of
Human Rights Watch. March 30, 2010. Letter on file with the author.
193. Cohen, P.T. (2009). The post-opium scenario and rubber in northern Laos: Alternative Western and
Chinese models of development. International Journal of Drug Policy, 20(5): 424–430.
194. US State Department Southeast Asia. (2005). International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Bureau for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Retrieved on October 28, 2008 from http://www.
state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2005/vol1/html/42367.htm.
195. Fawthrop, T. Efforts to bring Laos into the fold by criminalizing opium production will only exacerbate
conflicts with the traditional culture of mountain people. (September 3, 1997). The Nation.
196. Ibid.
197. UNDCP was renamed the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2002.
198. LCDC. (2003). A Review of the Organisational Capacity of the Laos National Commission for Drug Control
(LCDC) and Supervision. Presented at UNODC meeting Reducing HIV Vulnerability from Drug Abuse.
PowerPoint presentation on file with the author.
199. Cohen, P.T. (2009). The post-opium scenario and rubber in northern Laos: Alternative Western and
Chinese models of development. International Journal of Drug Policy, 20(5): 424–430.
200. Ibid.
201. Transnational Institute. (2009). Withdrawal Symptoms in the Golden Triangle. A Drugs Market in Disarray.
The Netherlands: TNI. p. 5.
202. UNODC. (2003). Country Profile of Laos, 2003. UNODC Office of East Asia and the Pacific.
203. UNODC. (2006). HIV/AIDS and Custodial Settings in Southeast Asia: An Exploratory Review into the Issues of
HIV/AIDS in Custodial Settings in Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. UNODC Office of
East Asia and the Pacific. p. 42.
204. Ibid.
205. Interview with the Australian Embassy mission in Laos, conducted by Tom Fawthrop, April 2003. Notes on
206. Notes from personal communications with unnamed Government of Laos source on an investigative field
trip, conducted by Tom Fawthrop, August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
207. Personal communication with UN official familiar with the issue. April 2010. Notes on file with the author.
208. UNODC. (2002). Drug Abuse among Youth in Vientiane, School Survey. Bangkok: UNODC Regional Center
for East Asia and the Pacific.
209. Center for HIV/AIDS and STIs. (2005). Second Generation, Second Round Surveillance of HIV/AIDS, Laos,
2004. Vientiane: Ministry of Health.
210. UNODC Asia Pacific Amphetamine Type Stimulants Information Center (APAIC). (2006). ATS Trends:
National Trends in Laos. Bangkok: UNODC Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific.
211. UNODC, LCDC, CHAS, and Burnet Institute. (2005). Unpublished report. Drug Use and HIV Risk
Khamkeuth District (Bolikhamsay), Sing District (Luangnamtha) and Khua District (Phongsaly). Bangkok:
UNODC Regional Center for East Asia and the Pacific. Report on file with the author.
212. Ibid.
213. LCDC. (2006). Unpublished data. Statistic Data on ATS use in 2006 in Laos. Data on file with the author.
214. P-value of .0014 (Fisher’s Exact) and an OR=3.45 (95% CI: 1.7 to 7.1).
215. Burnet Institute Laos Country Office. (2009). Amphetamine Type Stimulants and Sexually Transmitted
Infection Risk among Young People in Vientiane Capital and Vientiane Province, Laos. Presented at
dissemination meeting.
216. UNODC (2009). Opium Poppy Cultivation in South East Asia; Laos Myanmar, Thailand 2008. UNODC
Vienna.
217. There are two qualified psychiatrists in Laos, and one hospital in Laos has a mental health wing—The
Mahosot Hospital.
218. The Burnet Institute, Laos Country Office. (2009). Amphetamine Type Substance Use and Sexually
Transmitted Infection Risk among Young People in Vientiane Capital and Vientiane Province, Laos. Draft Laos
Country Report for AusAID’s Illicit Drug Initiative: Building Research Capacity Around Issues of ATS Use and
STIs amongst Young People. p. 84.
219. The village mediation units have been operating for a long time in Laos but officially received recognition
as a legal entity by the Ministry of Justice of the Government of Laos in 1997. Save the Children recently
conducted research to see how these village mediation units can be better adapted to mediate on issues
76 NOTES
of juveniles and interactions with the criminal justice system. Further information can be found at http://
www.juvenilejusticepanel.org/resource/items/I/P/IPJJVLevelCMedLaoPDR05EN.pdf.
220. Interview conducted with 20-year-old male, August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
221. Interview conducted with 18-year-old male, August 2008. Transcription on file with the author.
222. Notes from field trip report conducted by Tom Fawthrop, Vientiane, August 2008. Notes on file with the
author.
223. Interview with Dr. Chantravady, August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
224. Office of the Public Prosecutor & UNICEF Laos. (2003). Assessment of Children in Detention Facilities Lao
PDR. Vientiane: UNICEF.
225. The report does not state how many CDTDCs versus how many prisons were visited.
226. US State Department. (2007). Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor—Laos Country Report 2006.
Washington, DC: US State Department. p. 3.
227. The nature of abuse was not documented in the report.
228. Office of the Public Prosecutor and UNICEF Laos. (2003). Assessment of Children in Detention Facilities Lao
PDR. Vientiane: Office of the Public Prosecutor.
229. Ibid.
231. Personal communication with staff member from UNODC Laos country office, June 2009. Email on file
with the author
232. WHO Laos Country Office. (2004). Unpublished report. Assessment of the Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation
Center. Vientiane: WHO.
233. Ibid.
234. Personal communication with staff member from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center, August 2008.
235. Vientiane Youth Center. (2003). Unpublished. Case Reporting of the Vientiane Youth Centre for STI Treatments
Provided to Referrals from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center. Vientiane. On file with the author.
236. UNODC. (2003). Unpublished. Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation at the Somsagna Center, 2003.
Vientiane. On file with the author.
237. Interview with 20-year-old male recently released detainee from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center.
September, 2009. Notes on file with the author.
238. Rules and Regulations Somsagna Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (2/1/2004). On file with the author.
239. Ibid.
240. Interview with an unnamed staff member who has worked in Somsagna for the last three years, June 2008.
241. Interview with 21-year-old male, recently released from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center, September
242. Interview with 25-year-old male, recently released from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center. September,
243. Interview with 21-year-old male recently released from Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center, September
244. Ibid.
245. Ibid.
247. Ibid.
248. Personal communication conducted between Mr. Leik Boonwaat, head of UNODC mission in Laos, and
Tom Fawthrop, August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
249. Personal communication with an unnamed staff member who has worked in Somsagna for the last three
years. June 2008. Notes on file with the author.
250. UNODC Regional Office in Bangkok has worked closely with UNODC office in Laos and the LCDC to
collect data under the auspices of the ATS Data Collection project that has produced several regional
datasets on ATS use. The ATS Data Collection project primarily collects data on arrest and seizures related
to ATS but not on the individual or public health outcomes of ATS use.
251. Email communications with Leik Boonwaat, country coordinator of UNODC in Laos, August 2008. Notes
252. LCDC. (2004). Unpublished document. Rules and Regulations of Somsagna Treatment and Rehabilitation
Center, 2004. On file with the author.
253. Interview with Dr Chantravady, August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
254. Interview with recently released former detainee in Somsagna Drug Rehabilitation Center, 25-year-old male,
September 2009. Notes on file with the author.
255. US State Department. (2007). International Narcotic Control Strategy Report. Bureau of International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://www.state.gov/p/int/rls/
nrcrpt/2007/vol1/html/80859.htm.
256. Minister Srithirath statement at the Mini Dublin & IDSWG meeting, January 2008, Vientiane. Notes on file
with the author.
257. Mini Dublin Groups operate in many countries and are a collection of representatives from missions and
embassies of major anti-drug donor countries. The Dublin Group was inaugurated in 1990 as a way for
Japan, US, Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the EC member states to deepen mutual understanding on
drug-related assistance policies and to promote coordination.
258. UNIDO-UNODC website report on the reaction of Mini Dublin Group to site tours in Laos PDR. Vienna,
March, 2008. Retrieved on August 10, 2009 from http://www.unido.org/%3FselectName%3D/doc/index.
php?id=6519&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=21&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=6&cHash=f2c0cc9efa.
259. Briefing by Minister Mr. Soubanh Srithrath, Minister to the President’s Office and Chairman of the LCDC
to the Mini-Dublin Group on the implementation of Drug Control Policy in Laos, May 5, 2001, Vientiane.
Retrieved on October 7, 2009 from http://www.un.int/lao/laodrugpolicy.htm.
260. Embassy of the United States, Vientiane, Laos: Embassy news. “The Fight Against Drug Addiction:
Somsagna Dedication Ceremony”. Retrieved on March 28, 2009 from http://Laos.usembassy.gov/naspe_
feb08_2008.html.
261. Ibid.
263. News report from the Lao News Agency February 14, 2005. Retrieved on September 4, 2009 from http://
www.kplnet.net/English/News2.htm.
264. Ibid.
265. Statement of Mr. Linthong Phetsavan, Head of the Permanent Secretariat, LCDC at the 26th Meeting of the
ASEAN Senior Officials on Drugs Matter (ASOD), Singapore, 26–30th September, 2005. Statement on file
with the author.
266. Thailand’s ONCB website highlighting international cooperation in drug control. Retrieved on March 25,
2009 from http://en.oncb.go.th/document/e1-coop-Lao-TC.htm.
267. Ibid.
268. Personal communication with UNODC staff member in the Laos country office, May 2009. Notes on file
with the author.
78 NOTES
270. Interview conducted with Mr. Bounheuang Bulyphol, Provincial Chief of the LCDC, Luang Prabang, August
271. U.S. State Department Report. (March 2008). International Narcotic Control Strategy Report. Retrieved on
December 3, 2009 from http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/vol/html/100780.htm.
272. Personal communication with Michael Hahn, former country coordinator UNAIDS Laos, May 2009. Notes
273. Personal communication with UNODC Laos country office, February 2010. Notes on file with the author.
274. Personal communication with UNODC Laos country office, August 2008. Notes on file with the author.
275. Personal communication with Michael Hahn, former country coordinator UNAIDS Laos, May 2009. Notes
276. Personal communication with Leik Boonwaat. April 2010. Notes on file with the author.
277. UNODC. (2008). World Drug Report–2008. Retrieved on May 12, 2009 from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/
en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2008.html.
278. UNODC. (2009). World Drug Report–2009. Retrieved on December 3, 2009 from http://www.unodc.org/
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279. The notion of use and abuse is not clarified in the report.
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80 NOTES
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Public Health Program
The Open Society Institute’s Public Health Program aims to build societies committed to inclusion,
human rights, and justice, in which health-related laws, policies, and practices are evidence-based
and reflect these values. The program works to advance the health and human rights of marginalized
people by building the capacity of civil society leaders and organizations, and by advocating for
greater accountability and transparency in health policy and practice. The Public Health Program
engages in five core strategies to advance its mission and goals: grantmaking, capacity building,
advocacy, strategic convening, and mobilizing and leveraging funding. The Public Health Program
works in Central and Eastern Europe, Southern and Eastern Africa, Southeast Asia, and China.

The International Harm Reduction Development Program (IHRD), part of the Open Society
Institute’s Public Health Program, works to advance the health and human rights of people who
use drugs. Through grantmaking, capacity building, and advocacy, IHRD works to reduce HIV, fatal
overdose and other drug-related harms; to decrease abuse by police and in places of detention;
and to improve the quality of health services. IHRD supports community monitoring and advocacy,
legal empowerment, and strategic litigation. Our work is based on the understanding that people
unwilling or unable to abstain from illicit drug use can make positive changes to protect their health
and that of their families and communities.
Methamphetamine use is a serious public health concern
in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Despite having policies
that recognize addiction as a health problem, these
governments are increasingly using law enforcement
approaches that treat drug users as criminals rather than
patients. This report examines the growing use of detention
as “treatment” for methamphetamine users in the three
countries. It examines the policies and practices that
force people into detention centers, documents abuses
and human rights violations occurring in the centers,
and discusses the overall implications for individual and
public health.

Detention As Treatment

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Detention As Treatment

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DETENTION AS TREATMENT

Detention of Methamphetamine Users

International Harm Reduction Development Program

Writing: Nick Thomson

For more information, contact:

Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH

Arbitrary Arrest and Detention

Evidence-based and Voluntary Drug Treatment

• Release all those currently detained in CDTDCs, as their detention is unjustifiable,

To the United Nations and Donor Community

Figure 1. Traditional, emerging, and expanding methamphetamine trafficking routes

Source: UNODC East Asia and the Pacific

Risk Profiles of Methamphetamine Users

The Rise of a Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention

International Concern about Compulsory Drug

Health Implications of Compulsory Detention

Methamphetamine withdrawal is usually completed with no trial, due process, or medi-

Conditions Inside the Compulsory Drug Treatment/

Research conducted by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network uncovered allegations of

Release and Recidivism

Proliferation of the Compulsory Drug Treatment/

By 2002, the large-scale presence of methamphetamine was officially confirmed with an

Methamphetamine: Implications for Individual and

Figure 4. Compulsory Drug Treatment/Detention Centers in Cambodia (2009)

Figure 5. Sleeping quarters in the Bavel CDTDC, Cambodia (May 2008)

Source: Patrick Duigan.

Figure 6. Bavel District CDTDC, Cambodia (May 2008)

Source: Patrick Duigan.

Release and Recidivism

Proliferation of the Compulsory Drug Treatment/

Methamphetamine: Implications for Individual and

Conditions Inside the Compulsory Drug Treatment/

Treatment for drug use also appears absent or insufficient:

Proliferation of the Compulsory Drug Treatment/

Year Location International Support USD amount

2001 Vientiane US Embassy contributes to renovation Unknown

2005 Savanakhet US Embassy funds building of CDTDC US$600,000

2005 Pakse Government of Thailand funds building of US$650,000

2007 Oudomxay China funds redesign of a former opium Unknown

2007 Sayaburi Government of Brunei funds constructiuon Unknown

2008 Luang Prabang Japan International Cooperation Agency US$86,000

Source: UNODC Laos country office.

Leik Boonwaat notes

Michael Hahn, also said:

Source: Somsagna staff member.

Short-term Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse

Long-term Effects of Methamphetamine Abuse

Treatment of Methamphetamine Dependence

• Information regarding the pharmacological and physiological effects of methamphet-

• Methods to assist in the reduction of methamphetamine use and in reducing risk

• Free and optional voluntary counseling and testing for HIV.

Community Integration and Stigma Reduction

Partnerships with Law Enforcement

Study Visit (Months)

Study Visit (Months)

International Harm Reduction Development Program

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